By Mustapha Sesay & Crispina Taylor
The international auditing firm, KPMG, parted ways with the former Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to avoid legitimizing suspected procurement violations, the group`s country head disclosed in parliament on Thursday.
KPMG was providing financial and procurement services to the EOC which was responsible for prosecuting Sierra Leone`s anti-Ebola effort at the unset of the epidemic. The firm suddenly stopped its corporation with the center in September without giving any explanation, prompting speculation of corruption.
At Thursday`s hearing on the ongoing investigation on the Auditor General`s report on the Ebola funds by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, the Managing Partner of KPMG, Bidder Dekker, finally informed lawmakers of the reasons they withdrew.
“MDAs (Ministries, Department and Agencies) wanted to use us as conduit to rubberstamp their procurement activities which were against the National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA) Act 2004,” he said.
Dekker also noted lack of corporation from the ministries of Health and Transport, the two government ministries they were working with at the EOC.
When asked what specific responsibilities his firm was charged with, he said they had signed an agreement with Ministry of Finance which indicated their role as including financial services and procurement.
KPMG started working with the EOC on August 24, 2014 and withdrew on September 29 of the same year. The firm was just one of the auditing firms in country contracted by the government to help the then EOC in the area of financial services and procurement, the PAC hearing was told.
Dekker said they faced a lot of challenges which got worst along the way.
As professionals, he said, they knew it was risky for them to continue because they wanted to provide better services than they were able to.
Dekker also revealed that these services were produced on pro-bono (free of charge) basis and he said the estimated cost for the 6 month of their service, as per the agreement, would have been $135, 000.
KPMG decided not to collect this money as their corporate social contribution towards the Ebola fight.
Since KPMG`s services with the EOC only lasted for less than two months, a new firm had to be employed. And in November a company called BDO, which was paid $150, 000 for their services, was hired.
Samuel Noldred, head of BDO, told the PAC hearing on Thursday that the moment they took the job they realized that “due process was not followed in procurement activities” and that there were a lot of gaps, leading them to act “urgently” and advised management on how to handle the situation.
The BDO boss said they faced two key challenges - lack of budget for completed projects and improper documentation.
Because of this many debts went on unpaid, he said.
Stephen Gaoja, Cordinator at the National Emergence Response Centre (NERC), who was the overall boss in the era of the EOC, admitted to the existence of all the issues raised by KPMG.
He even mentioned additional constraints the KPMG workers faced, including lack of conducive office space and unavailability of vehicles for their mobility.
Gaoja said on several occasions they tried to see how they could resolve such issues but that it never materialized.
© Politico 20/03/15
