The struggle against poverty is politicized

The government scraps agreement on distribution of debt relief – Small and poor municipalities in the rural zones pay a high price

This Lenca girl can look forward to never enrolling in school and never having a job good enough to ensure she can live out her life in dignity.  Photo: Peter Bischoff

Swollen stomachs, tiny arms and legs are a common sight in rural zones of Honduras. And the situation has worsened during the past few years. In the countryside 42.1 percent of the children are undernourished. For urban areas the figure stands at 24.6 percent. In many ways Honduras is a lopsided country. There is an abyss between poor and rich, access to education and health, rural and urban areas, and races. If you for instance belong to the Lenca ethnic group you are sure to live in the countryside, have little or no education, and are one of the Hondurans who are far from having two dollars a day.

Despite this lopsidedness the liberal president Manuel Zelaya broke his promise to place great emphasis on the level of poverty when the money from debt relief was distributed between the 298 municipalities of the country.

HIPC country

Honduras is one of the highly indebted poor countries (HIPC) participating in a World Bank and International Monetary Fund debt relief programme. It includes three important elements: foreign debt is reduced substantially over a number of years, the released money is to be used in the struggle against poverty and broad popular participation contributes in the formulation of a poverty reduction strategy.

Iliana Morales: Politicians use the debt relief to keep their campaign promises.Photo: Eva Rasmussen

The quality of this popular participation varies widely from one country to another. Until recently in Honduras there was “a small step in the right direction”, says Iliana Morales, spokesperson for the Honduran debt network FOSDEH.

But on 27 January the impoverished Central American country got a new president. The liberal Manuel Zelaya followed the nationalist Ricardo Maduro, and that turned the little step forward into a big jump backwards.

Agreement on distribution

The Maduro government established a Consultative Council (CC) which was charged with finding the key to distributing the released funds between the municipalities. It was composed by civil society organizations, the association of municipalities, and business organizations. FOSDEH was there too, but left the Council together with the other 11 organizations that represented civil society, when the government, with the support of  the Congress, suddenly changed the rules of the game.

“After long and heavy negotiations at the CC we reached an agreement on how to distribute the money between the municipalities. The weight should first of all be on the poverty level, and not so much the size of population, thus establishing an advantageous model for small rural municipalities, where poverty is deepest”, relates Iliana Morales.

“President Zelaya had signed a promise that his government would not change the distribution key, so it was a shock when the Congress, during an unusual quick reading of the national budget for 2006 made a radical change, which takes money from the small and poor municipalities and gives it to the large and less poor ones. Now the weight is based on the size of the population.”

FOSDEH has calculated what the change means for the 298 municipalities and 18 departments in the country. Intibucá and La Paz, two departments in the poverty belt, where MS works, pay dearly. According to the CC distribution key, Intibucá should receive 2.980.000 dollars. With the change this shrinks to 1.744.000. La Paz goes from 2.448.000 dollars to 1.838.000 dollars. But the capital Tegucigalpa, quite to the contrary, improves its situation.  While the first key gave it only 465.000 dollars, the new one is must more bountiful and provides for 2.027.000 dollars.

Civil society kicked out

On top of this the Congress established a new Consultative Council made up of local representatives of the political parties. Their task is to audit how the money is used. Civil society was not invited to take part.

“Recently we held elections, and in the heat of the battle, many golden promises were made. Now the politicians have procured money to keep themselves going – and have appointed themselves to be the auditors of the investments”, comments Iliana Morales.

Furthermore the president has reserved a large part of the money - intended for all Hondurans - for himself.

“At the end of his presidency Ricardo Maduro declared that there were 122.016.000 dollars available for the Poverty Reduction Strategy. In my country the national budget is almost a State secret, but we managed to get a copy, which proved that the president was lying. There were only 47.056.000 dollars. He denied the fact, but when he delivered the documents by which to take stock of his presidency, this was confirmed”, says Iliana Morales.

“Through the entire campaign we tried to engage the candidates in the Poverty Reduction Strategy. Manuel Zelaya did not show any interest, so we had our forebodings. Our fears were totally confirmed.”

“Well, it is true that we have 122.016.000 dollars, but I need 95.490.000 dollars to keep my promises”, explained the president.

“He is abusing the agreement on debt relief” underscores Iliana Morales. “These funds are earmarked for initiatives against poverty, but Zelaya is using them for current expenses such as an expansion of the police corps.”

“We protested, but accepted when the president promised to keep the distribution key agreed to in the CC. He did not keep that promise either.”

FOSDEH is trying to mobilize the small and poor municipalities that a paying for the broken promises.