Maravi

Missing MoH documents worry Swedish envoy

Missing MoH documents worry Swedish envoy
Written by Kabanda Chulu
Thursday, July 09, 2009 5:13:36 PM

SWEDISH Ambassador to Zambia Marie Andersonn de Frutos yesterday said it is alarming and worrisome that evidence to conduct forensic auditing has gone missing at the Ministry of Health (MoH).

When asked if the missing evidence to carry out forensic auditing at the Ministry of Health would affect a transparent court process, Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos said the basis of Swedish support was on mutual trust to help the poor that everything would be handled correctly.

"Of course if evidence is missing it cannot be correct to say there will be a transparent court process and it seems this [evidence] is destroyed then it is alarming to see that it has happened like this and we are worried about this on our side," Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos said. "But the basis of our support is mutual trust that things will be handled correctly and we are not here to do all this work to bring in auditors, court processes, since we are just providing our taxpayers' money to improve living conditions of poor and the whole objective is for Zambians to run the show."

Asked on the disbursement of withheld funds and whether donor trust towards the Zambian government had been shaken over the crimes and embezzlement of funds at MoH or not, Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos said it was too early to give an answer.

"We don't own any process here I am sorry and this has to be handled with your officials, I am a guest here and I read what I read in newspapers and I get information from people I meet then I make conclusions after that and our support is based on mutual trust that everything will be handled in a correct way but it is just amazing that there has been crime and embezzlement with funds meant for poor people and that newspaper reports indicate that it has been happening since 2001," Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos said. "If trust has been shaken, I don't know what you think... what do you think? Aaah! And on the disbursement of withheld funds, it is too early for me to answer since this process is on-going and government is playing an active part so there is no clear answer right now."

Sweden, through Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the Netherlands recently suspended aid to the Ministry of Health following revelations of corruption. The two countries said the abuse of taxpayers' money was unacceptable and that they would withhold funds until the Auditor General concludes the forensic audit on Ministry of Health.

And Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos said the European Union (EU), under the Swedish Presidency would work towards changing the perception that the EU is just an aid contributor rather than a political actor.

Presenting the Swedish goals for the Presidency of the EU and her vision for her term in Zambia, Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos said there was need to add political dimension and change perception that the EU was just about development cooperation.

"We want to be perceived as political partners not just as development actors, we want to engage Africa on political dialogue over matters, for example about DR Congo, Mauritania, even Zimbabwe and issues such as reducing poverty and contribution to sustainable global development," said Ambassador Andersonn de Frutos.

"Under Swedish Presidency, we are ready to 'taking on the challenge' and key priorities will be managing the impact of the financial crisis, climate change, good governance and human rights, regional and continental integration and conclusion of the economic partnership agreements, the so-called EPAs [Economic Partnership Agreements]."

Labels: DONORS, MARIE ANDERSSON DE FRUTOS, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, SWEDEN

posted by MrK @ 4:15 PM