Uganda has appointed an international audit firm to oversee its anti-HIV/Aids programmes following the suspension of more than $200-million in assistance by the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Respected auditors Ernst and Young will assume responsibility of Uganda’s Project Management Unit (PMU), which runs Global Fund-supported programmes in the country, until mismanagement concerns that led to the suspension of the aid are resolved, the official said.
”Ernst and Young will now act as the PMU to enable transition to a new structure that will manage the fund,” said minister of state for health Mike Mukula.
”They will be managing procurement of drugs and condoms, including medicine for TB and malaria, arvs [anti-retrovirals] and condoms,” he said, adding that the company had been named after intense discussions between the health ministry and senior officials from the Geneva-based Global Fund.
The fund, created in January 2002 by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as a clearinghouse for receiving and distributing donor money in the developing world, last week temporarily froze $201-million in assistance to Uganda, citing ”serious mismanagement” of the PMU.
Mukula said the visiting Global Fund officials, led by its chief of operations, Bradford Hubbard, had assured Uganda that they still had confidence in Uganda despite the suspension.
”When we met they said they still had a lot of confidence in us and promised to lift the suspension very soon,” he said.
”They are not accusing us of any corruption or embezzlement of the funds, they are only questioning the way the project management unit was appointed,” Mukula said.
Uganda, which has won international plaudits for its anti-HIV/Aids programmes, has recently come under intense criticism for allegedly backsliding in its commitments to the fight.
Less than a week after the Global Fund announced its suspension, the country was accused by health advocates of succumbing to US pressure to eliminate condom use in favour of promoting abstinence from its heretofore successful programmes.
Alleged Ugandan acquiescence to US-promoted abstinence only campaigns is responsible for a massive condom shortage in the country that threatens to undo earlier gains in fighting HIV/Aids, several groups said on Monday.
Uganda has denied the charges. ‒ Sapa-AFP