THE Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has accused international partners involved in combating Ebola and other disease outbreaks in Africa of failing to provide adequate information on funds received and how the money was spent, warning that such a lack of transparency could undermine efforts to contain the virus on the continent.
News Point Nigeria reports that the agency has threatened to blacklist partners who fail to account for funds received to combat disease outbreaks, insisting that organisations can no longer operate without transparency or accountability in their dealings with African governments.
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The Director-General of Africa CDC, Dr. Jean Kaseya, disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Thursday, expressing displeasure over discrepancies between the amount disbursed by donors and the funds disclosed by some partners involved in the response to disease outbreaks.
Kaseya said that out of the $962 million already disbursed from the $3 billion pledged on the margins of the United Nations and G20 meetings in September, some partners reported receiving approximately $220 million.
He described the situation as unacceptable, arguing that African governments must know how much funding is available, which organisations are implementing response activities, and where those activities are taking place.
“There was a practice in many African countries, I say many, not all, but many. Partners will get money from donors. They will implement their activities without disclosing how much they got, without even sending a report to the government,” Kaseya said.
He lamented that governments often only learned about the scale of financial commitments after outbreaks had been contained, when organisations announced that billions of dollars had been invested in the response.
“And when the outbreak is over, we’ll hear from some capitals that billions of dollars were invested to stop this outbreak. I said, enough is enough. It will never happen again on this continent,” he said.
The Africa CDC chief explained that the agency had mobilised funding from various donors, securing pledges totalling $3 billion following a meeting organised by the United States in September on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly and G20-related engagements.
“We managed to fundraise. We got figures from all donors. Out of $3 billion pledged, based on the last meeting that the US organised in September on the margins of the UN G20 meeting, we got a total pledge of $3 billion,” he said.
Kaseya disclosed that $962 million had already been disbursed, prompting Africa CDC to work with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and convene a meeting with partners to establish how the funds were being utilised.
However, he expressed concern that only 19 out of 92 partners attended the meeting, with those present disclosing that they had received approximately $220 million.
“Out of that, $962 million was already disbursed. We went to work with the DRC government. We organised a meeting with partners. Only 19 out of 92 partners attended. These 90 partners who attended one night disclosed that they received around $220 million,” Kaseya said.
He questioned how African governments could effectively coordinate responses to disease outbreaks when they lacked information about the amount of funding available and the activities being undertaken by international partners.
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“If I see, out of $962 million disbursed, the government knows only about $220 million, what kind of government can accept to lead a response without knowing even how much they have, without knowing who’s doing what and where?” he asked.
Kaseya stressed that Africa CDC was initially focused on tracing the funds rather than alleging fraud or financial mismanagement, insisting that the immediate priority was to establish where the money had gone.
“Then I said, stop. I need first to know: where is the $700 million? For now we are not talking about mismanagement. For now we are not talking about fraud. No, for now we are talking about traceability; we want to know where is money?” he said.
He added that similar accountability measures were being introduced in Nigeria, where he had instructed Professor Aliko Ahmed, working closely with the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Pate, to coordinate partners involved in the country’s response and provide daily updates to the minister.
“This is why even in Nigeria, I already instructed Professor Aliko Ahmed, who’s working closely with Professor Mohammed Pate. His role will be to coordinate all partners who will be working in Nigeria and to provide the updates to the minister on a daily basis,” Kaseya added.
Asked whether he could rule out fraud or mismanagement in the handling of the funds, Kaseya said the agency was working with donors to obtain detailed information about the organisations that received money and the amounts disbursed.
He disclosed that the United States was preparing to send him a list of partners that received funding, including the amounts allocated to each organisation, while the European Union had already shared its records with the agency.
“You know we are working with donors. The US, they are sending me today the list of partners who got money, how much they got,” he said.
“The European Union, they already shared with me. I know exactly who got what. Other partners they are sending to other donors; they are sending to us.”
The Africa CDC chief warned that organisations unable to account for the funds they received or explain how the money was spent could face scrutiny for possible fraud or mismanagement.
“If today a partner got money from a donor, and the partner is unable to tell us what he did with this money, then I will start talking about fraud. Then I will start talking about mismanagement,” he said.
Kaseya emphasised that the warning was not an empty threat, declaring that organisations that refused to comply with the transparency requirements would face consequences across the continent.
He said Africa CDC would write to African governments and approach the African Union Assembly to ensure that non-compliant organisations were blacklisted.
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“But let me tell you, it’s not a threat. Partners who don’t want to comply with this rule, I will make sure that I will send a letter to all African countries, and I will go to the AU Assembly where they will be blacklisted in Africa,” he said.
The agency’s position signals a push for greater accountability in the management of international health funding, with Africa CDC insisting that transparent financial reporting is essential to enabling African governments to coordinate outbreak responses effectively and ensure that resources reach the areas where they are needed most.
