The Unlearned Lessons of the Somali Health Ministry Corruption

[Deeq A.]

Mogadishu (PP Features) — Lessons from large-scale corruption at the Somali Federal Health Ministry remains unheeded to this day several months after the successful trial of senior ministry officers who masterminded the corruption. That is the message of a report broadcast yesterday on VOA Somali Service.

The Investigations File presented by Harun Maruf highlights loopholes that made large-scale corruption at the Health Ministry undetected for several years. The sentencing of the former Health Ministry Director General and two departmental directors on the basis of evidence gathered from presimises in Waaberi district raises more questions about the role of former Ministers in overseeing direct funds from UN agencies.

VOA Somali Service’s The Investigations File left many questions unasked.

Harun Maruf reports that United Nations Population Fund, Unicef and World Vision had channelled money through the Health Ministry accounts with private banks instead of the Central Bank — the government coffers. The UN organisations interact with lead government agencies when there is an agreement in place to release funds to a given organisation. The three senior Health Ministry officials rented a building in Waaberi district, where paperwork for misappropriating funds was processed. The trio illegally used the name of an existing company to embezzle funds.

The VOA Somali Service reporter put a rather convoluted question to an employee of the company in question: “When did you realise that money was withdrawn from the Health Ministry’s account in your company’s name?” This is an incriminating question for a company whose corporate identity had been cloned by government officials to commit fraud. “The right question should have been ‘when did you realise that senior Health Ministry officials falsely claimed that your company had invoiced the Health Ministry for services?’” a Mogadishu-based lawyer told Puntland Post.

Was Minister Fowsiyo Abukar aware of funds from Unicef, UN Population Fund and World Vision?

Some people believe that similar government organisations have accounts with private banks in Mogadishu. Funds from UN organisations and their foreign implementing partners are perfunctorily audited. Those organisations leave core auditing tasks to the Somali Federal Government whose Auditor General’s report carries reliability. “If organisations tasked with overseeing funds from donor organisations are unaware of funds, corrupt officials will take advantage of the situation ” Mohamed Mohamud Ali, the Auditor General said.

Detectives interviewed neither the Health Ministers nor Deputy Minister. At the illegal premises in Waaberi investigators found stamps, invoice books, letterheads that the convicted officials used to steal funds earmarked for malaria prevention and mother and child health projects in Somalia. There may be other Federal Government organisations that receive direct funds from UN agencies. It is not clear whether the Auditor General’s Office and the Somali Central Bank were aware of funds from the two UN organisations and World Vision.

© Puntland Post, 2020

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