Let’s Talk About It! Should Recipients of Charitable Health Donations Have Control to Use the Money As They Like?

 

A few days ago, Kenyan writer, Binyavanga Wainaina posted a series of messages on his Facebook page, tackling the Tom Maliti, the Chairman of the Kwani Trust.

Kwani Trust is “a Kenyan based literary network dedicated to developing quality creative writing and committed to the growth of the creative industry through the publishing and distribution of contemporary African writing, offering training opportunities, producing literary events and establishing and maintaining global literary networks.”

For those who are not aware of what happens in the literary community. In 2015, Binyavanga suffered a stroke, and several bodies made public calls for donation of funds. Kwani was at the front and centre of the fund raising to help offset the medical bills.

In 2016, the Trust put out a press release giving account of how the funds were spent. {Click here to read the full story}

Since that time, we have not had any further updates on the monies; however, Binyavanga has been very active on social media. So, his messages on Facebook have raised some very pertinent questions.

 

Should the recipient of a fund raising have control over monies raised to do as he pleases?

 

We believe that this question is very vital – especially as we have BN Community Centre where we usually call for help, on behalf of Nigerians who are going through health issues. A lot of people do not like to respond to these calls because of the lack of accountability. However, where there is accountability, we find that donors have issues with the actual disbursement of funds.

For instance, we’ve read stories where funds are being raised to get treatment abroad, and in the budget, families include the costs for a loved one who will go along with the person who is sick. Sometimes, donors do not want to fund what they believe is not a justiciable use of the funds generated.

However, this is a subjective point of view, as it can be argued that the long term goal is to ensure the person who needs the money for full recovery, gets all the help he/she needs.

So, BellaNaijarians, what do you guys think? Do you think Kwani Trust owes Binyavanga any explanation on how they choose to spend the money on his health issues? Does Biyanvanga deserve to have a say in how money raised for his health is spent?

We reached out to Kwani Trust to ask for their position on the issue, but we’ve not heard back. In the interim, let’s talk about it!