Mozambique cyclones: Government promises audit of support by end of July

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Mozambique cyclones: Government promises audit of support by end of July

3:05 CAT | 12 Jun 2020

File photo: UNICEF Mozambique

The Mozambican government will present the audit of the support given in the face of cyclones Idai and Kenneth in 2019 by the end of July, a month later than originally scheduled, a state source told Lusa on Thursday.

Francisco Pereira, director of the Post-Cyclone Idai Reconstruction Office, told Lusa that the “complexity” of carrying out the audit meant that the results have not yet been published.

Last month, Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, João Machatine, promised in parliament that the audit results would be made public between May and June.

“The results of the audit will be released now, in May, and in June,” he told the Assembly of the Republic in a questions-to-government session.

A second audit of the accounts of international and national support will take place between July and December, the minister added.

“As you can imagine, it is also in the interest of the government to have transparency as regards the use of these resources,” Machatine noted.

The director of the Post-Cyclone Idai Reconstruction Office told Lusa that the need for reconciliation and presentation of documentary support for expenses incurred in dealing with the resources resulting from the support for cyclone victims made the audit more demanding.

Francisco Pereira said that the work is in charge of an international audit firm.

In the responses to deputies’ questions, the minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources said in May that disbursement agreements were signed in the amount of only US$706.5 million (€651.4 million) of the US$1.4 billion (€1.2 billion) pledged at a donor conference for the reconstruction of the infrastructure destroyed by the cyclones.

Idai hit the centre of Mozambique in March last year, caused 603 deaths and severely affecting Beira, one of Mozambique’s largest cities. Cyclone Kenneth then hit Cabo Delgado and Nampula in April 2019, causing widespread damage and killing 45 people.

Source: Lusa