Canadian-based organisation WE Charity is under investigation over multiple projects including one in Kenya where it is alleged that multiple donors fundraised for the same borehole.
The charity which has a presence in several countries including US, has been subject to an enquiry by the Canadian House of Commons Ethics committee - the lower chamber of the Parliament of Canada.
According to Canadian media outlets, WE had to answer for double matching projects such as schoolhouses which it undertook at Osenetoi, a community in Kenya's Maasai Mara region.
"An internal document shows a borehole, constructed in Osenetoi, Kenya, in 2013, was budgeted at $50,000 (Ksh5 Million).
"Three different groups in North America stated they raised funds for the borehole, amounts totaling far in excess of the cost of the deepwater well - $110,000 (Ksh12 million)," CBC News reported.
In response to the claims, the organisation stated that when monies raised exceeded the cost of a project, all of the funds were redirected to humanitarian projects.
"When donors support programs such as a farm animal or a schoolhouse, those funds are often pooled to help villages, as is common with other major international development organizations," the international charity organisation stated.
In an earlier inquest, a WE Charity donor told a Canadian parliamentary committee that the organization replaced his plaque with that of another donor on a Kenyan school that was meant to honour his dead son.
The father Reed Cowan had pledged to help build schools in Kenya through the charity after the death of his 4-year-old son in an accident. He raised money for the project, however, he later came to notice that the plaque had been replaced.
"He told the panel that he then found a video showing the charity dedicating the same schoolhouse to another donor just 13 days before his own visit. It was the same ceremony, the same staff, the same songs -- just a different plaque," US publication Bloomberg reported.
In response to the accusations, the charity revealed that its Board of Directors was establishing a Standing Committee on Donor Transparency (SCDT) with the mandate to, among other things, inquire into any specific concerns that may be raised by any past, present, or future donor.
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"The first priority of the SCDT will be to investigate the allegations brought forward by Reed Cowan and the error that led to removing one of the plaques commemorating his 2006 donations in memory of his son. Reed Cowan and his organization directly raised tens of thousands of dollars for WE Charity supporting four schoolhouses in Kenya, which continue to operate today," WE explained in a statement on March 3, 2021.
The WE Charity which was initially known as Free the Children was founded in 1995 by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburger.
The organization implements development programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America, focusing on education, water, health, food, and economic opportunity.
The two founders stated that they would testify before the House of Commons ethics committee after previously refusing to answer questions from what they described as a "partisan" committee.
