Just last week, USAID officials and three company executives pleaded guilty in a massive fraud and bribery scheme involving at least 14 contracts totaling over $550 million
The trial showed that USAID contracting officer Roderick Watson took bribes and was showered with lavish gifts—including cash, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets to a suite at an NBA game, a country club wedding, downpayments on two residential mortgages, cell phones, and even jobs for his relatives.
In exchange for these bribe payments, Watson influenced the award of over $550 million in contracts by manipulating the procurement process at USAID. He now faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
https://dallasexpress.com/crime/usaid-official-three-executives-plead-guilty-in-550m-bribery-scheme/ //
The solution is twofold.
The first part is to root out and eliminate these programs, which are currently managed by unelected bureaucrats and shouldn’t exist in the first place. //
The only way to do this is to elect representatives who agree with these principles, and then hold them accountable to ensure they do what we’ve elected them to do.
The second part is to enforce radical transparency and accountability in all future government activity. This part is much more difficult.
It starts with only allowing programs to be created in public through the official legislative process. No more administrative decree. If an elected official isn’t willing to go to the public and say, “Here’s what I want to create, here’s why, and here’s how it will work,” then it shouldn’t be allowed to exist. But it’s not just elected officials who play a role here—as citizens, we have a duty to make our voices heard during that process and then look at the results of the programs that our tax dollars, whether federal or local, are spent on and determine if they’ve been effective. //
ibt
an hour ago
Every grant of funds to an NGO should have to be signed for by a Representative or Senator. Then, that person should be held accountable for any fraud with those funds. After all, it is the JOB of the Representatives and Senators to responsibly spend taxpayer money. Oh, if the Representative or Senator loses their election in November, the funds should be frozen until another one signs for it. "Please explain to this court why you allowed the NGO to steal this money."
