{"id":7126,"date":"2015-02-20T06:30:57","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T06:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/?p=7126"},"modified":"2022-03-17T16:50:47","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T16:50:47","slug":"mismanagement-ebola-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/mismanagement-ebola-spending\/","title":{"rendered":"Mismanagement of Sierra Leone\u2019s Ebola spending"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In May-October 2014 the Sierra Leone government spent more than 84 billion Leones (Le) (approx. US$19m) tackling the Ebola epidemic.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.auditservice.gov.sl\/report\/assl-report-on-ebola-funds-management-may-oct-2014.pdf\">A damning report by the Auditor-General, Lara Taylor-Pearce<\/a>, was published on 13 February 2015, examining this expenditure. \u00a0It found that 30% of the money was disbursed without proper supporting documentation.<\/p>\n<p>Particular criticism was directed at a failure to follow procurement procedures set out in the Public Procurement Act of 2004.\u00a0 The Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) was the major culprit, issuing contracts despite inadequate bidder documentation and without carrying out the necessary due diligence.\u00a0 Government employee justification that procurement procedures could be waived because of the prevailing state of emergency is not supported by legislation, according to the report.\u00a0 In short, incompetently written contracts and poor controls over the disbursement of funds were commonplace.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Goodluck-Jonathan1.jpg\"><br \/>\n<\/a>Here are some inconsistencies outlined in the report:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/reliefweb.int\/report\/sierra-leone\/sierra-leone-government-press-release-payment-incentives-enhance-fight-against\">Incentive payments<\/a> for frontline health workers totalled Le26 billion, but there was no substantive proof given to the auditors that such payments reached intended recipients.<\/li>\n<li>In Makeni Government Hospital the frontline healthcare workers incentive payment list was found to include 271 ghost names. Payments totalling Le216m remain unaccounted for.<\/li>\n<li>MoHS failed to produce any documentation for contract agreements totalling Le17 billion, including Le12.7 billion for the purchase of 50 vehicles and ambulances and Le2.7 billion for the construction of an Ebola treatment centre in the northern district of Port Loko.<\/li>\n<li>Withholding taxes amounting to Le526 million were not deducted and paid over to the National Revenue Authority from payments made to various suppliers and contractors.<\/li>\n<li>A contract for 20 ambulances was signed between MoHS and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kingdom.co.uk\/services\/security-personnel\/transport\/\">Kingdom Security Logistics<\/a>. However, payment for the ambulances was made to a United Arab Emirates bank account in the name of <a href=\"http:\/\/uniworldgeneraltrading.com\/\">Uniworld General Trading LLC<\/a>. Four of the ambulances have still not been supplied.<\/li>\n<li>MoHS required bidders for medical supplies contracts to submit a Pharmacy Board License\/Registration with their documentation. A US$4m contract was awarded to Ramesco even though the company did not submit the requisite license.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Office of the President released <a href=\"http:\/\/ernestkoroma.sl\/office-of-the-president-press-release-6\/\">a statement<\/a> responding to the report: \u201cGovernment notes the ongoing public interest concerning the Auditor-General\u2019s report\u2026..as the law provides, parliament will debate the audit report and make appropriate recommendations on the issues raised therein\u2026..Government attaches paramount importance to the judicious use of the Ebola funds and will ensure proper accountability for the use of these funds\u2026\u2026those who are found guilty of misusing Ebola funds will face the full force of the law\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>There is widespread anger at the misuse of funds.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The opposition Sierra Leone People\u2019s Party (SLPP) has <a href=\"http:\/\/sierraleonematters.co.uk\/main-opposition-party-reacts-to-the-damning-ebola-audit-report\/\">called on the Government<\/a> to launch \u201ca public inquiry into the audit report and the management of the national fight of the Ebola Virus Disease since May 2014 to present and to bring all wrong doers to book\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>A<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com\/?p=8547&amp;cpage=1\"> report<\/a> in the Sierra Leone Telegraph speculates that \u201cthe complex web of Ebola corruption in Sierra Leone \u2013 presided over by State House in Freetown, may take several years to unravel \u2013 if at all\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>Swit Salone provides details of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.switsalone.com\/21064_unlawful-deals-to-sierra-leones-5-biggest-ebola-contractors\/\">the five biggest Ebola deals<\/a> and questions the transparency of the contractors.<\/li>\n<li>The Citizens Campaign for Accountability and Justice have called for an urgent probe into the audit by the Anti-Corruption Commission.<\/li>\n<li>Sierra Leonean Alie Kabba, executive director at United African Organization, <a href=\"http:\/\/bsmagashi.blogspot.co.uk\/2015\/02\/alie-kabbas-open-letter-to-president.html\">wrote in an open letter<\/a> to the President Koroma: \u201cTo think that your government presided over such ignoble corruption with money that should have gone to the Ebola response is a depressing day indeed for our country\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>On 17 February, Sierra Leone\u2019s Anti-Corruption Commission issued a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.anticorruption.gov.sl\/show_news.php?id=462\">public notice<\/a> calling on 40 named individuals, institutions and companies to report to its offices. All District Medical Officers will be summoned at a later date.<\/p>\n<p><i><a href=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/jamie-hitchen-policy-researcher\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jamie Hitchen<\/a>\u00a0is Policy Researcher at ARI<\/i><\/p>\n<p><small>Image courtesy of Sierra Leone Telegraph\u00a0<\/small><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<div class=\"message-box-wrapper not ugly\">\n<div class=\"message-box-title\">ARI Series: Ebola in Sierra Leone<\/div>\n<div class=\"message-box-content\">\n<div class=\"shortcode-list \"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/blog\/ebola-health-care\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Health care at breaking point<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/blog\/ebola-sierra-leone-economics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Cost of Living on the Margins<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/blog\/ebola-stigma\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stigmatisation<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/blog\/ebola-sierra-leone-politics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Political leadership for a crisis?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/blog\/ebola-sierra-leone-pujehun\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Getting to Zero: Learning from Pujehun<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/blog\/mismanagement-ebola-spending\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mismanagement of Sierra Leone&#8217;s Ebola spending<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/blog\/behind-closed-doors-schools-teenage-girls-and-ebola-in-sierra-leone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Behind Closed Doors: Schools, Teenage girls and Ebola in Sierra Leone<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/blog\/part-1-a-year-with-ebola-the-grievous-experience-of-health-care-workers-in-sierra-leone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A Year With Ebola: The Grievous Experience of Health Care Workers in Sierra Leone<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/blog\/beyond-ebola-a-time-for-action-in-sierra-leone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond Ebola: &#8220;a time for action&#8221; in Sierra Leone<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><small><\/small><br \/>\n<i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jamie Hitchen highlights findings from a damning report by Sierra Leone\u2019s Auditor-General into government spending of funds allocated to fight Ebola between May and October 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":13235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[64,1279,1281,1013,1266,181,1284,1283,742,1552,832,743,77,30,1272,833,1268,1275,1230,1267,1286,1274,1273,970,1269,1270,1282,1271,1285,36,40,1278,1280,1277,1276,162],"class_list":["post-7126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-africa","tag-alie-kabba","tag-anti-corruption-commission","tag-auditor","tag-auditor-general","tag-corruption","tag-disease","tag-district-medical-officer","tag-ebola","tag-ebola-series","tag-epidemic","tag-freetown","tag-health","tag-health-in-publications","tag-incentive-payments","tag-jamie-hitchen","tag-joe-pemagbi","tag-kingdom-security-logistics","tag-koroma","tag-lara-taylor-pearce","tag-leone","tag-leones","tag-makeni-government-hospital","tag-ministry-of-health-and-sanitation","tag-open-society-initiative-in-west-africa","tag-osiwa","tag-public-notice","tag-salone","tag-sierra","tag-sierra-leone","tag-sierra-leone-peoples-party","tag-slpp","tag-swit-salone","tag-uniworld-trading","tag-uniworld-trading-llc","tag-west-africa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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