Monrovia – The General Auditing Commission (GAC) of Liberia completed and submitted the Ebola Emergency Response Project (EERP) Audit to the World Bank recently in line with the request made by the World Bank for the GAC to audit the amount earmarked by the World Bank to eliminate the Ebola Virus Disease in Liberia . According to the report, the World Bank provided US$28,184,871 directly to the Government . The Government disbursed US$ 16,023,029 during the audit period and had a balance of US$12, 161,842 at June 30, 2015.
The audit covered July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015. The report was signed by Liberia’s Auditor General Madam Yusador S. Gaye. Among the major findings are:
The GAC observed that the total payment of US$2,657,640.00 made to 6,893 routine and response health workers as hazard payment for the period of four (4) months was disbursed without evidence of attendance records and contracts. Therefore, the GAC was unable to satisfy itself about the validity of the payments.
The GAC noted that the payments were contrary to the No Objection‟ for payment of hazard benefits from the Senior Health Specialist (Health, Nutrition and Population) of the World Bank dated November 16, 2014 which instructed that payments to beneficiaries should be made only based on valid contracts. The GAC also observed that the payments were contrary to the Project Implementation Manual which states that “contracts will be signed by beneficiaries that describe the agreement terms and condition as well as payment period. Payment will be based on the verification of daily attendance by the health workers.”
Additionally, the GAC observed during the audit that the amount of US$4,875.00 out of a total amount of US$91,925.00 paid to thirty-two (32) names on voucher no. EERP/2015/114 submitted as routine workers to the Public Financial Management Unit, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning could not be traced on the Ministry of Health payroll.
The GAC further observed during the audit that three (3) deceased health workers who total death benefits amounted to US$15,000.00 names could not be located on the database of deceased health workers provided by the Ministry of Health for audit review.
The commission further noted that the amount of US$73,335.00 out of a total amount of US$919,975.00 was paid to routine and response team workers over the counter without evidence of signatures of receipt from the beneficiaries.
Also, the GAC observed a total payment of US$6,130.00 made on voucher number EERP/2015/611 for the purchase of 1,940 gallons of fuel for onward distribution to various health facilities/workers were made without evidence of receipt of the fuel by the intended beneficiaries.
This is not the first audit of Ebola funds by the General Auditing Commission . The first Ebola funds audit conducted by the GAC covered the period August 1 2014 to October 31, 2014. The report was released in April 2015.
Some of the major findings in the first Ebola are:
US$672,617.56 was received and disbursed by the Ministry of Defense without supporting documents. The disbursement was made for fuel, feeding, daily subsistence allowance, communication, medical and training, tentage repair, repair and maintenance, among others as per the Ministry of Defense expenditure summary. The Management of the Ministry of National Defense did not provide a response to the Management Letter and draft Audit Report as of the time of reporting. Therefore, the GAC could not provide reasonable assurance that the amount disbursed to the Ministry of National Defense was used for the intended purpose.
The GAC observe d during the conduct of the audit that allowances were paid to some Bureau of Immigration (BIN) Officers in the various counties who were not assigned in those counties. The amount of L$853,875.00 for allowance was paid to 68 officers in ten (10) counties who could not be physically seen or whose names could not be traced to the daily attendance records for the period under review.
Further the GAC noted that the National Bureau of Concessions, the Agency responsible for the Ebola dead body management did not maintain a distribution log for 10,780 gallons of fuel/gasoline valued US$43, 995.00 procured for Ebola operations. As a result, the GAC could not determine whether the fuel was used for the intended purpose.
The GAC further observed that the amount of L$308,650.00 out of the total of L$360,000.00 for various Ebola activities implemented by two counties namely, Nimba and Grand Kru were without adequate supporting documents such as receipts, bills, etc.
When the first Ebola audit report was released April 2015, the GAC came under sustained attacks from auditees led by the Incident Management System (IMS), the adhoc body created by the Government of Liberia to manage the National Ebola Trust Fund. The IMS accused the GAC of unprofessionalism and issued ultimatum to the Auditor General to withdraw the report from the public domain, demand the Auditor General rejected.