Reasonable Reform Request

REASONABLE REFORM REQUEST

Wednesday, November 27th, 2013

BY GAREN YEGPARIAN

I recently attended a program where the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
(HAAF) was discussed.

The organizers pointed out flaws in the work of the organization,
mostly in its form, and saw corruption manifested through those flaws.

There is no question that corruption is rampant in the Republic of
Armenia and throughout the former USSR. It should come as no surprise
that the HAAF could be susceptible to some of that.

Of course it is obvious that the HAAF does important work in
our homeland. So there’s a dilemma. How to continue reaping the
benefits of this effort while minimizing its problems, in this case,
corruption? This applies even to the APPEARANCE of corruption which can
harm the organization’s credibility and ability to perform its duties.

Someone came up with an excellent suggestion at the close of the
program.

It turns out that quite a few members of our two republics’ governments
sit on the board of the HAAF. The number cited during the program
was thirteen, (though at least some of those individuals are not
government officials, despite being part of the homeland’s current
power structures). This serves no purpose. Guidance as to what
projects the HAAF should undertake can be delivered to its board of
trustees from the governments without the membership of government
officials. No board would undertake any other projects, unless some
extremely outlandish idea was presented. This creates a good check,
a counterbalance, to the inherent power and influence of government.

One of the key ideas presented in the ethics trainings I have to go
through because I serve on local government-appointed boards is that
even the APPEARANCE of a conflict of interested is problematic. In
the case of the HAAF’s Board of Trustees, we have at a minimum the
APPEARANCE of potential corruption. Why not eliminate that appearance
since no substantive purpose is served by the presence of government
officials? Leave in place the various organizations’ representatives
and noted business leaders. Let them do their jobs.

If the presidents of our two Republics were to be named as “honorary
co-chairs” or some other such title for the sake of conveying
the importance of HAAF, I could see that. Otherwise, the petition
(born of the event I mentioned above) requesting this change in the
composition of HAAF’s Board of Trustees is something I plan to sign.

I hope you two will sign the petition when it is circulated.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress