By Ralph Sesay
CW 24, in the ongoing Justice Biobele Commission of Enquiry, Samuel Abayomie Noldred of BDO Management Partners, a financial management firm, yesterday testified on the management of the Ebola funds between November 2014 and December 2015.
The witness told the Commission that they had a contract with the Ministry of Health, through the World Bank, to provide support around Financial Management and Procurement services for the National Ebola Response Center. He continued that they had managed the whooping sum of Le283 billion, including what they had inherited when they took up office in November 2014.
The witness continued that NERC expended Le269 billion, which was verified by them, in various budget lines like in the payment of hazard fees and catering services, etc.
Mr. Abayomie also disclosed, to the Commission, that a balance of Le14.9 billion was handed over to IPAU, a unit in the Ministry of Health, as balance when the response ended in 2016. He further told the Commission that the World Bank also instructed the payment of some arrears from the said amount even though he could not state the sum involved.
The BDO witness was instructed by the Commission to bring in all supporting documents that will justify all financial transactions on the next hearings on Monday.
Chief Operating Officer, National Ebola Response Center (NERC), Mr. Steven Ngaujah, has also earlier testified as a witness before the Commissions of Enquiry, noting that NERC had a total of 663 vehicles and motorbikes.
Mr. Ngaujah had also acknowledged that the Ministry of Health spent colossal sums of money in the Response, including catering services and hazard payments.
Le64 billion, he continued, was spent on hazard payments to Ebola workers, and that NERC had relied on the information generated by the various treatment centers, which were manned by various partners across the country.
The payments, according to the NERC COO, were also verified by the pay platform, which he described as a structure consisting of NERC officials, officials of UNDP and other partners. Hence this structure verifies the list the treatment centres submitted for payment, and NERC and BDO will approve payments.
Justice Biobele squeezed the NERC COO to state what was received by NERC for the entire response and what was also expended. He responded that he could not tell and relied on BDO, the financial services and management firm responsible for managing the funds of the Response.
Justice Biobele noted that Sierra Leoneans and the whole world would want to know what was received and expended in the entire Ebola Response project.
NERC Expended Le269Bn On Ebola Response -BDO Witness Testifies
