Tag: donors

Clinton’s African adventure

On their nine-day trip to Africa, Bill and Chelsea Clinton are traveling with 20 wealthy donors and supporters, some of whom have also been fundraising for Hillary’s presidential bid and others who are expected to give big to her campaign.

The opportunity to accompany Bill Clinton on trips across the globe on behalf of his philanthropic foundation for years has been considered both a reward for past donations and an inducement for future giving, say sources familiar with the foundation’s finance operation. This time, they say, it was an especially coveted invite that was extended to wealthy Clinton supporters — including those who are also expected to give generously to Hillary’s campaign.

The foundation, which provided POLITICO with the list of donors on the trip, said the group represents both longtime supporters as well as those who are just getting involved and provides an opportunity to see the projects they are contributing to.

Among those along for the ride, which began yesterday: Democrat Jay Jacobs and his wife, Mindy, longtime Clinton fundraisers and foundation supporters; billionaire CEO Lynn Forester de Rothschild; Washington lobbyist Liz Robbins, who in the past has hosted events for the Clintons at her East Hampton home; wealthy Ugandan Rumi Verjee, who made his fortune franchising Domino’s Pizza in England; and John and Rebecca MacKay, who have donated between $5 and $10 million to the foundation.

The labor movement might not yet be ready for Hillary, but Hillary is ready to start wooing labor. In an email sent out Tuesday to labor organizers by political director Amanda Renteria and obtained by POLITICO, the Clinton campaign announced it has hired Nikki Budzinski, former national labor coordinator at the UFCW, as its labor outreach director.

The announcement came the same day that the country’s most powerful union leader, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, delivered a much-publicized speech with the message that organized labor isn’t ready to endorse Hillary just yet.

Renteria said that filling the labor outreach post “has been a top priority for us given the importance of labor issues to Hillary and everyday Americans across the country. I also know that Hillary and so many of us here already have long-standing relationships within the labor community, and we’re looking forward to maintaining and growing those relationships as a team.” Budzinski will join the campaign on May 15, the email said.

Gun-toting black kids hold up Swedish tourists

Four gun-toting black children held up 17 Swedish tourists in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.

The robbery occurred on Monday when the tourists were visiting the Iliso Care Society, which runs programmes including a project to address unemployment, a day-care centre and a food garden.

The children held up the tourists at about 11.30am , said Vivian Zilo, the founder of the NGO.

“The tourists were unperturbed by what has happened to them as they said it is not a true reflection on the situation in the area. They are grateful that they are unharmed,” said Zilo, the foster mother of two children.

Khayelitsha was one of the worst ten murder precincts in 2014. It also has the lowest police-to-population-ratio in the province, at 111 police per 100,000 residents.

“What happened is very sad because it was children as young as 14 who smoke drugs in the community committing this crime.”

Cameras, money and personal belongings were taken by the children. Zilo said the tourists did not want to be named.

Police spokesman Lieutenant- Colonel Andrè Traut confirmed the incident.

“The suspects are still running loose and the matter is under investigation.”

The locals who live off foreign donations are worried that this could give tourists a “bad impression” of the area.

“Some of them are our donors and this also provides a source of income to some unemployed people in the community,” said Zilo.

Source: timeslive

Malawi hits back at donors for withholding $150m in aid

malawiA Malawian minister on Thursday criticised Western donors for withholding aid worth $150 million after the government exposed corruption, saying it could prompt other African leaders to stop fighting graft fearing they will lose funds.

“The government does not understand the decision taken by donors to withhold support because the (Malawi President) Joyce Banda administration has exposed fraud and corruption in the civil service,” Information Minister Brown Mpinganjira said at a ceremony to launch a community radio station for the main Protestant church in Malawi.

“Instead of people supporting the president for exposing corruption, they are busy withholding support. With this do you see some African leaders exposing corruption in their countries?” he asked.

His comments were the first official reaction to Western donors shutting down aid. Malawi depends on donors to bankroll up to 40 percent of its development budget.

Mpinganjira, a veteran politician and unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2004, said: “This could have been a time when all wellwishers could come forward and support President Banda since she had thrown a first stone.”

Donors under the Common Approach to Budgetary Support (CABS) have said they will not disburse pledged aid until February after an International Monetary Fund review. They have also warned that the next aid tranche depends on government efforts to fight the rampant corruption.

“We will not be able to resume support through government systems until we have a clear assurance, independently verified, that our resources are all being used for their intended purpose,” said Sara Sanyahumbi, a British diplomat who heads the donor grouping which includes European countries, the European Union and the World Bank.

Malawi has been rocked by widespread corruption, losing millions of funds to theft by mostly civil servants which the government blames on financial loopholes.

Donors have called on the poor nation to act swiftly on the plunder of public resources, known as Capital Hill Cashgate scandal.

Vice President Khumbo Kachali has said loopholes in the state’s payment system have seen state workers “siphoning huge sums of money using private companies with no contracts with government.” – AFP