Maravi

Sweden freezes funding to ministry of health

COMMENT - Excellent development. Too bad it has to come from foreign donors, not the president. Even better would be to do away with donors altogether, tax the mines to the max and put oversight in the hands of parliament.

Sweden freezes funding to ministry of health
Written by Chansa Kabwela
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 11:45:58 PM

THE Swedish International Development Coorperation Agency (SIDA) has stopped its planned release of funds to the Ministry of Health following the alleged K10 billion scam unearthed by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC). Sida, a government agency of Sweden, was to release 88 million Swedish Kroner [about K59 billion] to the Ministry of Health.

The agency noted that the ACC and the Office of the Auditor General acted promptly and that they hoped to get clarification on the matter.

"Sida, The Swedish development agency, has stopped its planned release of funds to the Zambian health sector after the Anti Corruption Commission, ACC, found irregularities surrounding the use of the health ministry's money," Sida headquarters noted in a statement on Tuesday.

"The ACC suspects one or several officers within the ministry of having stolen public money. Both the Anti Corruption Commission and the Office of the Auditor General have acted promptly and we hope to soon get clarifications on what actually happened."

Head of Sida in Zambia Charlotta Norrby said the agency would not accept any abuse of development funds.

"Sida will not accept any abuse of development money," Norrby stated.

When contacted for comment on the matter yesterday, Norrby stated that Sida had postponed its disbursement to the health sector until the results of the ongoing investigations by the ACC and the Office of the Auditor General on the suspected theft from the Ministry of Health were presented.

"It is not clear at the moment whether funds from the Swedish Government are affected. Sida is eager to see the issue resolved as soon as possible and has offered our support to the Auditor General and the Ministry of Health in the investigations," Norrby stated.

Sida provides technical assistance and funding throughout the world.

And well placed sources in the international donor community said most donors had pulled out their support to the Ministry of Health pending the outcome of the forensic audit by the Auditor General's office.

They said it would be difficult for them to release their funds to the country's health ministry if the audit report proved that monies allegedly abused were from the donors.

"We have pulled out our support to the Ministry of Health and we are waiting for the report of the Auditor General which is expected to be ready tomorrow. Taxpayers in our countries are very particular about how their money is spent in countries where it is taken so we are also taking precautions," the source said.

"By doing this, we know that the ordinary Zambians will suffer because donor support to the Ministry of Health stands at 55 per cent. This means that the Zambian government will have to run the health sector with 45 per cent funding as things stand right now."

Zambia's health sector is funded by several donor countries and organisations such as Sida-Sweden, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Commission of the European Union, Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (DFID), International Development Association - World Bank, Embassy of Japan, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Global Alliance Vaccine Initiative (GAVI) and Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM).

Others are the Clinton Foundation, World Health Organisation (WHO), the joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Last week, the ACC unearthed a corruption scam in which over K10 billion government funds were suspected to have been corruptly obtained from the Ministry of Health.

The commission is investigating a former human resource manager in the Ministry of Health, Henry Kapoko, in connection with the alleged corruption, theft and fraud.

The ACC has also seized and restricted property in excess of K3 billion allegedly belonging to Kapoko who now works at the Ministry of Local Government and Housing in the human resource department.

Labels: ACC, CORRUPTION, DONORS, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, SWEDEN

posted by MrK @ 10:47 PM