The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said more than $700m in donor funds intended for the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) cannot be accounted for in financial information provided by organisations implementing the response.
Africa CDC disclosed this in a communiqué issued on Thursday, October 15, following a press conference by its Director-General, Dr Jean Kaseya, in Kinshasa on Wednesday.
According to the agency, international donors disbursed about $962m directly to international organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) responsible for carrying out Ebola response activities. The funds were not paid to the Congolese government.
Africa CDC said only about 30 per cent of the organisations concerned attended a meeting convened to provide financial information. Those that participated reported receiving approximately $22, of which $120m had been spent and $100m remained available for response activities.
This left more than $700m unaccounted for in the information available to Congolese authorities, according to the agency.
Africa CDC described the gap as a major failure of financial transparency and reporting, saying it prevented the government from obtaining a complete picture of the funds mobilised, how they were used and the results achieved.
The agency said it would work with the Congolese government to reconcile the funding, identify the amounts received by each organisation, document expenditure and establish the activities financed.
It also said it would support administrative or regulatory measures against organisations that continued to withhold financial information. Such measures could include suspension or withdrawal of their accreditation or authorisation to operate in the country.
Africa CDC further warned that it could share the names of non-compliant organisations with relevant authorities in other African countries.
The agency stressed that the immediate concern was the lack of financial information from implementing partners. Its communiqué did not establish that the missing funds had been stolen or embezzled.