Madonna during a visit in Malawi
Via The Guardian
The managers of Madonna’s charity in Malawi have been ousted after they squandered $3.8m (£2.4m) on a school that will never be built, it has been reported.
The damning audit came as Raising Malawi confirmed it has scrapped plans for a $15m elite academy for girls.
The charity’s executive director, Philippe van den Bossche, the partner of Madonna’s former trainer, left in October after criticism of his management style and spending at the school, according to the New York Times .
“These included what auditors described as outlandish expenditures on salaries, cars, office space and a golf course membership, free housing and a car and driver for the school’s director,” the paper said.
In a shakeup at the charity, the board of directors has been removed and replaced by a caretaker board that includes the 52-year-old singer and her manager, it added.
The abandonment of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls – backed by prominent Hollywood figures and Madonna’s associates in Kabbalah – was announced in January. This caught the Malawian government by surprise and caused anger among villagers who had surrendered their homes to make way for a 117-acre construction site near the capital, Lilongwe. Continue Reading…..
Just how hands on was Madonna? If she just appointed suspect individuals in to positions of power and foolishly left them to just get on with it then she’s not the business woman I thought she was.
A colleague of mine has sumnmed up this situation perfectly.
Ultra-rich Western celebrity decides she’s going to suceed overnight in transforming a country where charities, non-governrmental organizations etc. have grafted over decades to make small, incremental improvements. After all, she organized the Blonde Ambition tour, so how difficult can it be to raise education standards?
Falls for a bit of sales patter from some “charismatic” individuals (e.g. conmen) rather than listening to the aid workers with real experience and commitment.
Gives said conmen her money and distracts attention from the hard work being done by non-celebrities
Conmen use money to buy cars and golf course membership.
Gasp in surprise that it’s all went wrong.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
