The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria said on Wednesday that it has frozen financing for Uganda after uncovering ”serious mismanagement” in the organisation overseeing its programmes there.
The fund said the halt on its grants — which total $201-million — is temporary, and that they will be unfrozen provided Ugandan authorities complete a shake-up by October.
The Geneva-based body does not work directly on the ground, instead offering grants to local and international relief groups, often feeding the money via government agencies.
It said its decision was based on an external audit ”which revealed evidence of serious mismanagement by the project management unit [PMU] in the ministry of health”.
The PMU is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the global fund’s programmes in Uganda, and the audit raised ”serious concerns about inadequate monitoring and accounting of grant expenditures by the PMU”.
”Some expenses were inappropriate, unexplained or improperly documented. In addition, the criteria set out for the vetting of sub-recipients were not followed completely,” the global fund said. ”For example, some entities that did not provide evidence of their legal status were awarded grants.”
The fund said there is ”no concrete evidence of corruption or fraud” but that it is ”no longer comfortable” working through the PMU and that it should be disbanded.
Uganda is widely seen as a model for the fight against Aids in Africa, the world’s worst-affected continent, and its landmark programmes will not be stopped because of the global fund’s move.
”The global fund recognises the need to ensure continuity of life-saving treatment for the ultimate beneficiaries of funded programmes in Uganda,” it said.
”This means that an interim plan will be put in place to ensure that treatment is not halted or interrupted for those on anti-retroviral therapy and that the condom-distribution programme will continue.”
The global fund was created in January 2002 by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to gather finance from governments, business and private donors to help poor nations reduce deaths. — Sapa-AFP