Global aid groups, including the UN, are facing demands to inform the Congolese government of the whereabouts of more than $700 million that was donated to deal with the Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 4,600 people in the country.
Last week, Jean Kaseya, who heads Africa CDC, the continental body coordinating the response to the spread of the virus, said that Kinshasa had only been told about what had happened to $220 million of the $962 million donated.
In a pointed statement, Africa CDC said it “strongly deplores the lack of cooperation from organizations,” accusing them of not respecting Congolese sovereignty and threatening to withdraw their permission to work in the country if they fail to comply.
Julien Harneis, the UN’s senior Ebola coordinator, told Semafor that Africa CDC itself has established a joint system with the World Health Organization (WHO) to track disbursements reported by donors. But, he said, the government’s request for recipients to report what they had received and spent was new and was taking time to implement, adding that 43 organizations had already submitted the information.
WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said the UN body supported “clear and transparent processes for tracking financing … including the government establishing a mechanism to account for funds delivered by partners” — a message repeated by other UN bodies.
Despite the demands for greater transparency, aid agencies say they still need more money. Jasarevic told Semafor that WHO’s $115 million budget for Ebola was 80% funded, while Fleur Vernat, UNICEF’s partnerships manager in DR Congo, said her agency’s response faced a 65% funding gap.
DR Congo is recording fewer daily Ebola cases and deaths than a month ago, but the outbreak is spreading to new provinces in the country, Harneis told Semafor. Nigeria has recorded a case of a woman who had travelled from Uganda, the authorities said and Kenya has now confirmed nine infections.
The Ebola response has drawn funding from several countries, with the US as the largest donor. DR Congo’s health minister, Roger Kamba, had already accused aid organizations in August of withholding information about their spending. “You cannot tell people that $800 million has been given to Congo when we cannot find out how much you have spent,” he told reporters at a government briefing.
“They demand traceability and compliance from us as local actors, but they do not do it themselves. It is a double standard,” De-Joseph Kakisingi, who heads a network of Congolese aid organizations, told Semafor. But he acknowledged that DR Congo lacked a law specifying what aid organizations must report to the government about the money they receive and spend.
This latest Ebola outbreak is the second deadliest in history after the 2014-16 epidemic which killed more than 11,300 people, mostly in West Africa. There is no known vaccine for this species of the virus, known as Bundibugyo, but Ervebo, effective against another species, is being tested. So far 9,000 frontline workers have been vaccinated.
Semifar/ Ruben Nyanguila
