Stealing of poverty alleviation aid is a crime

in impoverished Mashan county, in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, were “mistakenly” qualified for the local poverty alleviation fund, said the National Audit Office on Oct 8. Comments:

As a part of public finances, the poverty alleviation fund is not only a lifesaver for those in abject poverty, but also a boost to rural development and the integration between urban and less developed areas. It is therefore an unshirkable responsibility for governments at all levels to assign the money to people in need, which has a lot to do with the social justice, efficient governance, and the governments’ credibility.

To prevent a similar farce from happening again requires the well-targeted allocation of the local poverty alleviation fund and stricter supervision, which is why all the departments concerned should doublecheck the recipients’ qualifications and punish those who violate the rules in an efficient manner. Also, projects affecting people’s well-being should be more transparent to fulfill the public’s right to know and supervise.

For people with even just a rudimentary understanding of how governments work, it is not too difficult to come to the realization that the scandal in Mashan involves more than one department and official. It is no doubt a severe dereliction of duty and a collective crime.

The poverty alleviation corruption in Mashan should serve as a wake-up call for all that targeted support to the poor is far from secure, which explains why the old tricks like cheating on the number of people living in poverty and the misappropriation of national resources keep happening. Even targeted poverty alleviation can be a hotbed of corruption without strict supervision. On the one hand, all involved officials have to be held accountable, and on the other, it calls for more efforts to make sure the country’s poverty-relief aid is put in deserving hands.