What is happening to flood funds?
Play
The rainy season has definitely arrived and there are floods, floods and more floods.
The government says the fault lies with the former government of Abhisit Vejjajiva because it did not do enough to help the people and the country. The red shirts claim the government of the day was spending its time and money killing people.
That leaves open the question of what has become of the promises of the present government to make sure no floods will happen this year. Monies have been distributed and work begun to fulfil them, but how much work has actually been done? Does the public know how the money has been utilised?
If as much effort had been expended on action to ensure that the horror of another 2012 flood would be lessened, then many people who are suffering from this year’s rainy season would not be in such a condition.
There is an old Peggy Lee song entitled “Manana”, in which the last stanza is, in my humble opinion, descriptive of this government’s efforts to prevent the misery now being piled upon so many Thai citizens. Here it is:
The window she is broken and the rain is comin’ in,
If someone doesn’t fix it, I’ll be soaking to my skin,
But if we wait a day or two, the rain may go away,
And we don’t need a window on such a sunny day,
(Manana, manana, manana is soon enough for me) Oba! Oba!
Manana is Spanish for “tomorrow”. “Oba!” is an exclamation of happiness.
William Reynolds
Chiang Mai
