Global Fund malaria grant under probe

By Sherah Alleyne

SANCTIONS will be taken against the person or persons who are responsible for misappropriation of the Global Fund malaria grant, according to Public Health Minister, Dr. George Norton.Minister Norton stated that there was no doubt about an investigation because Global Fund was asking Guyana to repay the large sum of US dollars.

The irregularities were reported to have taken place while the Global Fund malaria programme by the Vector Control Services (VCS) of the Public Health Ministry was under the management of Dr. Reyaud Rahman, who resigned and left VCS on December 9, 2015.

The OIG therefore initiated an investigation, which focused on the malaria surveillance activities of VCS during the period in which Rahman was responsible for the Global Fund malaria program. This encompassed five six-month periods between January 2013 and June 2015.

The Minister stated that sanction will be taken against the officers who were responsible for the unit during that period, as well as where there was a misrepresentation of information and misappropriation of funds when the investigations are completed.

In a recent inspection, an Office of the Inspector General (OIG) investigation in Guyana found evidence that employees from the Ministry of Health, a Principal Recipient of a Global Fund malaria grant, had inflated the number of bed nets reported as distributed and false documents to support the inflated figures.

According to the report issued by the organization, employees had also fabricated documentation for another surveillance activity relating to the operation of malaria committees.

The OIG identified US$56,966 worth of non-compliant expenditures.
The Global Fund is putting in place corrective actions,including strengthened record-keeping at the recipient level.

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