Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf recently dissolved the country’s National Red Cross Board and ordered the management of the organization’s activities suspended pending investigation over suspected financial misappropriation.
The President later invited both members of the dissolved board and the management team on meeting to discuss an issue that has threatened to destroy the image of the Liberia National Red Cross Society (LNRCS).
The Executive Mansion, the seat of the Liberian President, said in a press release that the dissolution of the board was triggered by “unfolding events” that needed “deeper” investigation.
Reports indicated that an international audit sanctioned by the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) last year revealed that officials of the LNRCS misappropriated over US$1.8 million donated to fight the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus disease.
The audit, conducted by the London-headquartered Moore Stephens International, also indicted several top officials of the organization for alleged embezzlement. Some were accused of receiving kickbacks through a fraudulent bidding scheme for the procurement of anti-Ebola materials.
The President of the Liberian Red Cross Society, Emmanuel Kparh, had resisted calls for his resignation to pave way for an uninterrupted investigation.
Like all national societies, the LNRCS is an affiliate of the IFRC which has since suspended its funding to the national branch.
Under pressure three senior local officials were subsequently suspended in connection with that audit report. But since then revelations from internal investigations have continued to appear in local media report.
“President Sirleaf took the decisions … following a careful review of events unfolding at the Liberian National Red Cross Society.
The Liberian Leader has further cited all members of the dissolved Board of Directors as well as members of the Management Team on Thursday to a meeting on March 10, 2016 in order to look deeper into the current situation at the Liberian National Red Cross Society,” the Executive Mansion statement reads in part.
The President carries the official title as Chief Patron of the LNRCS.
But the LNRCS’ management rejected the president’s move, according to media reports.
The LNRCS said Sirleaf had no authority to appoint or dismiss its staff, and could not dissolve the National Executive Board as far as its Constitution was concerned.
“They [board members] can only be suspended, expelled or impeached for any violation or integrity issue after being investigated by an ad hoc committee and not by presidential or patronage pronouncement.”
Corruption has been blamed for hampering the fight against Ebola in the hardly affected countries where over 11, 000 people died from the disease.
Sierra Leone’s Auditor General in February released part two of its audit on the use of the Ebola funds and it found the authorities wanting for failure to implement recommendations in the first report which found millions of US Dollars allocated to fight the epidemic unaccounted for.
Parliament is currently studying the second report.
(C) Politico 17/03/16
