How Drogba charity ‘exploited’ orphans
Poor children were bussed in for Christmas publicity shots
A SCANDAL-HIT charity backed by royalty, corporate giants and celebrities cynically exploited vulnerable African children for publicity, the Daily Mail reveals today.
The Didier Drogba Foundation – which is supported by Princess Beatrice and David Beckham – claimed to provide thousands of schoolchildren in the Ivory Coast with ‘the basic tools needed to get an education’.
But the Mail can reveal in at least one school learning materials – including notebooks and pens – were only given to children who appeared in a promotional film.
The foundation, set up by former Chelsea footballer Didier Drogba, also had 20 African orphans taken by bus to a mansion miles from their home, where photographs taken of them with the striker on Christmas Day for promotional pictures were later posted on Twitter.
The children had a festive lunch with the footballer and his wife and three children, were given presents and played for a few hours before being sent back.
The Mail can also reveal that youngsters pictured with the Ivorian footballer in one of the charity’s main publicity photographs are not African beneficiaries of the foundation, but child models from the UK.
One of the youngsters is the grandson of renowned England and Arsenal footballer Ian Wright.
The Daily Mail yesterday revealed how the Didier Drogba Foundation is being investigated by the Charity Commission and the United Nations after reporters found it spent less than 1 per cent of money raised in the UK on good causes.
Since 2009, just £14,115 out of £1.7million given by donors has been spent on charity projects.
Almost half a million pounds was spent on fundraising parties in London, where celebrities were entertained by pop stars at top hotels. The rest has been left languishing unused in bank accounts.
The revelations have stunned supporters of the charity run by world-renowned footballer Drogba, who is also a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador.
Britain’s charity watchdog has launched an investigation and its chief operating officer, David Holdsworth, said it has ‘serious concerns’ and would probe whether the foundation ‘provided misleading information to donors and the public’. Minister for Civil Society Rob Wilson said the allegations were ‘extremely worrying’. There are also questions about millions of pounds in sponsorship earnings from global corporations Pepsi, Nike and Samsung, which Drogba claims have gone to the charity.
The funds were paid directly into an account in the foundation’s name in the Ivory Coast, which is not subject to scrutiny by the Charity Commission.
The foundation has declined to reveal whether the footballer paid any UK income tax on these sponsorship payments, made over six years while he was living in a £7million mansion in Surrey and playing for Premiership side Chelsea.
The charity claims to have provided financial support across health and education in Africa for nearly a decade.
In its first three-and-a-half years, no money raised in the UK was spent on charitable activities.
Meanwhile, the charity work carried out in the Ivory Coast was done at his personal expense, Drogba insists. He claims this work has amounted to £2.94million. This includes the cost of building a clinic in Ivory Coast.
After the Mail published its investigation into the Didier Drogba Foundation yesterday, the footballer issued a statement saying the story was incorrect. He said: ‘The foundation … [has] all the documentation required by law both in the UK and the Ivory Coast. The foundation’s work to date has been funded entirely by me through sponsorship earnings and donations in the amount of 3.7million euros [£2.94million].’
Among the projects he said the foundation helped fund were the building of the charity’s first clinic, a mobile health unit, buying school bags and books, a dialysis machine and support to orphanages.
He added: ‘The £1.7million from UK fundraising will be used to make the main clinic fully operational, including medical equipment, staff, medicine and running costs.’
Last night, Drogba said on TV in Canada: ‘All these projects I’m talking about, they have been financed by my sponsorship deals. People need to understand that we not only need to organise charity events – so you need some funds there – but also I’m responsible for this money. So I’m not going to spend it just to spend it.
‘I know what I want to do and this money will be spent at the right time when it needs to be spent.’
A spokesman for the Mail said: ‘The Daily Mail stands by every word of this important story which has prompted an investigation by the Charity Commission. The documents provided to us by the Didier Drogba Foundation failed to address the very serious questions posed by our journalists.’