When members of NGOs raise an issue regarding human rights or the environment, instead of saying that the claims of NGOs are a lie, the non-official representatives of the government – the official ones avoid doing that – just label them “grantivorous.” Firstly, it is
not clear what change it makes. For example, we know that no service from taking a shower to taking a walk is provided to inmates of the correctional institutions without a bribe, and nothing is done without the prison gang leader’s permission. Now is it important whether Artur Sakunts who raises that issue is grantivorous, an American spy, a patriot or not a patriot. Everyone knows the real situation, everyone knows that those are not “individual drawbacks that will be fixed with time” – the current functionaries have copied the definitions of the Communists very well – but are well-operating mechanisms, a system created over the decades. If Sakunts doesn’t talk about it, will everyone forget about that system?
I don’t rule out that NGOs that take grants are engaged in some fraud. Say, they take money for coffee breaks enough to buy Beluga Caviar, but they just serve doughnuts. However, say $1000 that a grantivorous NGO member puts in his pocket as a result of this fraud is nothing compared to the millions that are devoured by the representatives of the Armenian government. Because NGOs usually get a $10-20-thousand grant whereas the government gets millions. Where are more, as they are commonly called, “corruption risks”?
One of the latest examples: according to Naira Zohrabyan, a National Assembly member, farmers have been given lectures worth millions of dollars within the framework the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s program. I don’t care again which party this MP is a member of and what goals she pursues by raising that issue. It is more important whether 16.6 or 6.6 million dollars’ worth lectures have been given. Perhaps, those are lectures like the one the Prime Minister gave to milkers. Naturally, Aravot inquired about that issue. However, both Edgar Avetyan, the director of the Center for Managing Foreign Financial Projects, Ministry of Finance, and Ara Hovsepyan, the former director of the Millennium Challenge Account, changed the subject of the conversation. By the way, Mr. Hovsepyan is currently the director of the North-South Road Corridor Investment Program state nonprofit organization. Perhaps, now road constructors need lectures. In a nutshell, it is not clear who is really grantivorous.
Read also
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
