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Prof Luo attributes corruption in MoH to demise of CBoH

Prof Luo attributes corruption in MoH to demise of CBoH
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Mon 28 Dec. 2009, 04:01 CAT

FORMER health minister Professor Nkandu Luo yesterday said she hopes the Ministry of Health has learnt valuable lessons from the recent withdrawal of donor funding.

Commenting on the resumption of funding by the three lead donors - Sweden, the Netherlands and the European Commission, Prof Luo said she hoped the Ministry of Health had put in place measures that would ensure transparency and accountability.

She attributed the malpractice in the ministry partly to the demise of Central Board of Health (CBoH).

“CBoH should have never been removed. It was set up primarily to monitor the prudent management of resources and it had started achieving that. So I hope that they have learnt that they need structures that have very minimal bureaucracy where they can easily track resources and how they are being used,” she said.

Prof Luo said she hoped the ministry would rethink its position on CBoH.
She said if the position on CBoH remained unchanged, she hoped that during the process of negotiations, the ministry had put in place measures that would ensure transparency and accountability in guidelines of procurement, tracking of resources and had a proper monitoring system in relation to finances.

“I also hope that in 2010, resources would be put where they are needed the most and not in workshops because in the past most of the money went in workshops. I hope they cut down on seminars and workshops,” said Pro Luo.

Sweden, the Netherlands and the European Commission recently announced that they had released a total of K129 billion in support to the health sector in Zambia.

This follows the progress made by the Ministry of Health in recent months in improving accountability and transparency in the management of funds in accordance with the agreed governance action plan for the sector, established in response to the misappropriation of funds at the ministry.

According to a statement, this plan had also constituted an important part of the poverty reduction budget support dialogue with the government on the key underlying principles of public financial management and good governance.
It stated that the dialogue was satisfactorily concluded on November 25, though a number of outstanding issues would need to be addressed in 2010.

Sweden, the Netherlands and the European Commission, together with the other cooperating partners, all particularly disappointed with the misappropriation of funds, had worked intensively with the Ministry of Health to secure the oversight systems so that funds flowing, both from the Zambian taxpayers and cooperating partners, were safeguarded and used for the intended purposes.

Swedish Ambassador to Zambia Marie Andersson de Frutos said it was critical that the government continues to reform the health sector for the sake of the millions of Zambians depending on the Ministry of Health for receiving treatment and drugs.
She underlined that much work remained to be done to strengthen the oversight and accountability of structures of the ministry.

According to the statement, actions to be taken within the second and third phase of the health sector governance action plan included comprehensive financial, systems and procurement audits as well as a first repayment of misappropriated funds to the cooperating partners.

It stated that in the case of Sweden and the Netherlands, the disbursements were a first step in a partial resumption of funding to the Ministry of Health following the decision taken in May 2009 to temporarily suspend disbursements in the sector when suspicions of irregularities in the ministry were disclosed.

“The government has since implemented a series of actions and reforms within the area of financial management, and has taken decisive steps to prosecute alleged culprits in the courts of law. In addition, the government has produced a repayment plan for donor funds which have been misappropriated,” read the statement in part. “In parallel with the ongoing work at the ministry, cooperating partners have had discussions with representatives of the Zambian government on executing in-depth audits of several other ministries and public-spending agencies to ensure that systems are further enhanced, as was already announced in June by H.E. Republican President Banda.”

Labels: CENTRAL BOARD OF HEALTH, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, NKANDU LUO

posted by MrK @ 3:55 AM