The response of the World Food Program (WFP) to the news of its distribution of substandard rice in earthquake-hit areas has been shameful. When the news was first reported back in May, instead of owning up to the rot within, the WFP resorted to blatant lies. Even as the images of the rotten rice it had distributed in Kavre and Gorkha districts were being prominently splashed in national broadsheets, WFP officials were still trying to convince Nepalis that the "the rice was edible and nutritious but had a slightly higher percentage of broken rice". When sustained media pressure could no longer be sidestepped by such easy lies, the agency vowed to look deeper. This second round of investigations apparently found that the rice being distributed as relief material had gone bad in course of transportation. But then government teams started sniffing out WFP go-downs stuffed with smelly sacks of rotten foodstuff. Running out of believable lies, this time WFP officials decided to stay quiet.The agency has been reluctant to provide details of the purchase, transport and delivery of substandard foodstuff found in its go-downs to the parliament's Disaster Management and Monitoring Committee. For instance, the WFP has not been able to offer a credible explanation for the 542 metric tons of rotting pulses found at its Khajura go-down in Banke district on Sunday. Rather than continuing to deny the obvious, the WFP in Nepal would do well to accept its mistakes and to take stringent action against its officials involved in tempering with its emergency food. Nor is this the first time the WFP has been under the scanner for distribution of substandard food in Nepal. Back in 2009, the National Human Rights Commission had found that the rice the agency was distributing in Jajarkot district following a deadly cholera outbreak that year was "not suitable for human consumption". The WFP's own lab tests at the time found the rice it was distributing was "perfectly safe and edible"—of course!
The government has not been able to take any action against the WFP because "it's a UN agency" and "proper diplomatic channels need to be followed". Government officials also express their helplessness at their inability to probe the opaque process through which the WFP procures its foodstuff. It's indeed hard to see what the government can do more than stop it from distributing any more food to earthquake victims. Surely, it's up to the United Nations to get to the bottom of the case and to halt the rapid slide in the credibility of the WFP. The UN food agency serves an extremely important function as it strives to eradicate hunger and malnutrition from the world: in 2013, it was able to alleviate the hunger of 81 million food-deficient people. A few bad eggs should not be allowed to impugn the reputation of such an important global organization. To start with, the agency could be more honest about the hanky-panky in its Nepali offices. For it's not just its filthy go-downs that need a thorough clean-up.
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