May 11 (The Killid Group) — A number of Afghan Senate members have criticized the high levels of corruption in the COVID-19 funds and aids allocated to fight against the pandemic, saying there is no monitoring over the use of funds allotted for the provinces to combat the coronavirus.
Some of the Senate members claimed all contracts are of the same source and corruption exists on a large scale form.
Zalmay Zabuli, head of the Senate’s health commission said today while addressing to media that poor management and lack of a monitoring system in the country have been the principle causes of improper use of funds allocated for the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most of the provincial governors have been attempting to embezzle government’s aids allotted to combat the deadly disease, Mr. Zabuli added.
He further added that an ICU ventilator costs some AFG700,000 but one has been reportedly bought at three million Afghanis and there was evidence.
However, Waheed Omer, the presidential adviser and director-general of the strategic and public affairs, who was asked to attend the Senate for questioning, said the Afghan Ministry of Finance (MoF) was responsible for monitoring the coronavirus-related funds in the provinces.
Under President Ghani’s decree, he was responsible only for public-awareness campaigns, said Mr. Omer, adding that some AFG27 million were spent on awareness-raising campaigns.
Officials in the Ministry of Finance (MoF), nonetheless, argued that the ministry, with the cooperation of the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG), has delivered a specific guideline for the use of funds allocated to fight against the pandemic
Shamrouz Khan Masjidi, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Finance (MoF) told The Killid Group that based on the aforementioned guideline, a committee for monitoring the use of funds allotted to combat the dead-dealing coronavirus will be formed that at the end will update the ministry with the reports.
In addition to the health funds allocated by the Afghan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) for the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), some two billion Afghanis were also allotted for the management of the crisis rose from the pandemic.
Follow TKG on Twitter & Facebook
