It always amazes me that so many people think government should run so much of our lives, especially healthcare. I'm not talking about health insurance, they've already screwed that situation into a boondoggle, but control of the healthcare system is their ultimate goal. Tell me one thing the government does efficiently. I'm waiting.
Billions of dollars, our money, have been allocated to help build hospitals and health care facilities in Afghanistan. As is usual, government agencies are asking for an accounting of how the money was spent, in this case the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). The U.S. Agency for International Aid coordinates the projects, requests bids, awards contracts. Certainly it is a large project but wouldn't you expect them to have some idea of where the money has been spent? I would. There might be small gaps or omissions, but at least they know where the buildings are, right?
According to a report released a couple of weeks ago by SIGAR, USAID cannot even provide proof that the facilities they have funded so far even exist. USAID claims to have funded 641 medical facilities but cannot locate 80% of them. Because it is Afghanistan, the norm is to use GPS coordinates to locate the facilities, street names are not often used, available, or consistent. 13 of the coordinates provided by USAID were not even in Afghanistan. 6 were in Pakistan, 6 were in Tajikistan, and 1 was in the Mediterranean Sea. Oops.
Another 30 of the locations provided by USAID were not in the provinces they were reported to be serving; that's kind of like saying we have a facility serving New Mexico but the building coordinates are in Alabama. That's a tough commute to get an earache treated. In another 13 cases, USAID reported that 2 physical facilities occupied the same exact coordinates. That's better than the 189 coordinates that showed no physical structure within 400 feet; of that number, 81 locations did not have a building within 1/2 a mile.
SIGAR asked for clarification, which is a nice way of saying "WTF?!" The director of USAID has yet to respond but did have time to issue a declaration celebrating LGBTI Pride Month 2015 and the recent gay marriage decision issued by the Supreme Court. I wonder if USAID is promoting LGBTI rights in Afghanistan? Probably not since they tend to throw gays off of four-story buildings or stone them to death in the town square.
On bright note, we did spend $335 million to build the Trakhil Power Plant, $125 million over budget. That plant was turned over to the Afghan government in June 2010 and since then has operated at just 2.2% of capacity.
Another $416 million has been spent on a gender equity project to teach Afghan women that they are equal to men. And it's been an unqualified success, by US government standards at least. First Lady Ghani has said the project has been "a game of contracting and sub-contracting and the routine of workshops and training sessions generated a lot of certificates on paper; without any tangible benefit for women." Welcome to our style of government Madam First Lady.
More jobs were created when Congress decided to build a 64,000 square foot command and control facility in the Helmand Province. The DOD was advised to cancel the project for several reasons not the least of which is we are pulling out of Afghanistan and don't need the facility. Generals in the field said the C & C facility was not useful or needed. Now it sits practically empty but hey, it was a paltry $36 million.
Our government is wasteful, inefficient, and many other adjectives, none of which is good. The simple fact is they cannot deliver goods or services in a manner that we as consumers would desire. So as the process towards government takeover of our health care system proceeds, think about how you are going to get a doctor to see your child when the government won't even be able to tell you where the clinic is located. But I'm sure we'll spend lots of money, which is what our government does best - and someone will get a really nice certificate, too!