FMO asks: “Where is the money donated by partners to contain Covid-19?” – Watch

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FMO asks: “Where is the money donated by partners to contain Covid-19?” – Watch

3:32 CAT | 29 Jul 2020

Photo: O País

After the announcement of the first confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country – in March – the government said that US$700 million was needed to address the impacts of the disease.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as a partner of the Mozambican state, approved a package of US$309 million. In the opinion of the Budget Monitoring Forum, the Mozambican government should now tell the public how that money had been or was being spent.

“We saw a lot of activity when it was time to get the money. But since it has been obtained, there has been a silence,” said Adriano Nuvunga, director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), an organisation that currently hosts the FMO.

“There is no longer any discussion with society, and with civil society in particular, about what is being done with the money to, first, mitigate the effects of the pandemic, and second, to contain its spread, which has reached [the level of] community transmission,” Nuvunga added.

The FMO’s concern also extends to money that the government has received from other partners. “We need transparency,” Nuvunga said.

The FMO says it is monitoring the direct awards to contractors for the rehabilitation of some infrastructure, but has not received any explanation.

“Direct awards for exorbitant amounts have already started. This is a major concern, because in other countries the resources for Covid-19 response have been stolen by officials. There is this concern in all of Africa,” Nuvunga said. “It remains to be seen whether it isn’t once again a preparation for the elite appropriating the population’s money, as in the case of the ‘hidden debts’.”

In the context of this supposed opacity, the FMO says it still wants to know “who the companies getting the direct awards are” – information which, it says, there can be no reason to withhold.

Over next few days, the FMO is visiting the provinces in order to monitor developments in the government’s response to Covid-19.

By Romeu Carlos