MUST READ: NAC, JB’s Daughter Edith Akridge Confirm Joyce Banda Pocketed K123million HIV/ Aids Money Some civil society organisations have said there is need for the National Aids Commission (Nac) to be audited following revelations that it released K123, 384, 005.76 towards activities of the Joyce Banda Foundation International (JBFI) and State Residences when former president Banda was in power. It has emerged that just four months after Banda assumed office, JBFI submitted to NAC a K150million proposal on July 30, 2012 which was subsequently trimmed to K73, 593, 400. This week the NAC board chairperson, Mara Kum’bweza Banda, confirmed that her organisation approved 54grants worth K4.9billion at its meeting held on Friday, January 1, 2014 and that the organisations behind the protests are on the list of recipients. The documents in our possession show that the Centre for the Development of the People (Cedep) which is one of the organisers of the demonstrations, Gift Trapence, leads got a grant of K44, 863 192.64 while another organiser Malawi Network of People Living With HIV (Manet+) received K133 873 064.50 Kum’bweza Banda confirmed that Cedep, Manet+, JBFI and State Residences are among the organisations whose applications for grants were approved. Meanwhile, Kum’bweza Banda said the Global Fund (GF) and other donors that finance NAC do not expect a refund of K5million which was expended during the launch of First Lady Getrude Mutharika’s Beam. Kum’bweza Banda said donors were satisfield that the expense and the process followed in making it were not anomalous. “It is correct that our donors wanted to know what was doing on. We explained to them what happened. They are satisfield with our explanation. So as we do (as NAC), they do not expect the money to be paid back,” said Kum’bweza Banda. On January 21,2014,under reference number NAC/10/10/03/25,suspended Nac Executive Director,Thomas Bisika, wrote former President Banda about the approval of grants amounting to K 5billion to 54 organisations for implementation of HIV and AIDS programmes and Banda duly signed the letter thanking Bisika for the information. Out of the money that the public institutions received ,state Residences got K 49,790,605.76. JBFI submitted a proposal to NAC for possible funding to address the problem of school dropouts and high prevalence of HIV and Aids among the youth and women. NAC management endorsed JBFI proposal on April 8, 2013 and was submitted to the board 11 days later. The project was supposed to start from June 2, 2013 to May 31, 2014 and was to be carried out in Blantyre, Mwanza and Chikhwawa. Section five of the project information document called management comments, Nac explains that although JBFI requested a total budget of K150million, it was nationalised based on the standard rates applicable to the Grants Facility to bring the endorsed budget to K47, 434, 600. JBFI Managing Director Edith Akridge admitted receiving the grant from NAC. “I would therefore, say that NAC would be best to respond on how our proposal was evaluated.” Based on the documents, trustee of Beam Mavuto Bamusi attacked organisers of the demonstrations as hypocrites calling them ‘pawns being used in a game of cheap politics. Bamusi argued that the CSOs agitating for the demos are acting on ignorance because Beam did not receive any grant from NAC and no procedure was violated. “Ask Mr. Trapence and his fellow organisers to cite one procedure that was violated?Ask him, too, to produce evidence that Beam applied for that grant and the same was approved and appropriated by NAC,” he argued. Besides, Bamusi demanded an explaination from the organisers of the demonstrations why the Joyce Banda Foundation International (JBFI) received a grant of K73 milion if monies at NAC are only meant for those that are directly involved in HIV and Aids issues. “Can they ask the same questions about the JBFI grant? He asked. “Does Mr. Trapence know that even the State Residences received a grant of K49million? Can he explain the relationship between the mandate of State residences and HIV and Aids?Are they also demanding a refund of this? Reacting to the development, Center for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) Executive Director Timothy Mtambo said accountability should not spare anyone in this case. “When we say accountability, we mean everyone has to be accountable. People may misconstrue our stand to think that we are targeting specific individuals but that’s not the calling of our job”he said. He said if JBFI took those resources without following proper channels and procedures from Nac, they must be held accountable. “If those resources were not being used for HIV and Aids response, they must be held accountable, ”he insisted. Mtambo quashed suggestions that CSOs only target current leaders. “The fact of the matter is that we didn’t know. We are not prophets or wizards who can see things in the dark. We always act upon information given. For Beam and Mulhakho, we had the information that’s why we acted. No one should blame us for this one now because we didn’t know something of this nature happened in the past,”explained Mtambo He said, as a country, Malawi should be strategizing on how to recover theses resources even though the leadership is no longer in government. Health and Rights Education Programme (HREP) executive director Maziko Matemba said there is need for an audit at NAC to determine how much has been lost through such donations. “This would help Malawians including CSOs and the public to regain lost trust,”he said. “The audit needs to determine if these institutions were indeed valid to receive that type of funding and what were the activities,” they carried out with the resources,he added. Matemba also said this is the time NAC needs to explain how it processes grants for the organisations “because how come institutions that are considered higher are able to get funding.”
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 17:35:31 +0000
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