Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Kelfala Marrah has said that three hundred and six million United States dollars is still waiting to be shared by the World Health Organization in Guinea for the Ebola epidemic. He made this statement yesterday at the daily press conference held at the SLAJ hall.
The Minister went further to say that this amount is the total regional support received from development partner’s bilateral and multilateral agency, as these resources are regional and they are still waiting for the WHO Conakry Guinea to disburse or share among Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia and they are yet to receive a single cent and they are engaging WHO in Guinea, Conakry to try as much as possible, to disburse those resources to the relevant channels in the country to carry on the fight against Ebola.
The minister also made it clear that the total amount of money received from all partners is twenty-five million nine hundred and eighty thousand and seventeen dollars.
He also made it clear that these resources do not always come through the Government but will be given to international agencies or international NGOs that are working in the field to help Government combat Ebola.
In giving a brief outline of the donations made, the minister maintained that the African Development Bank (ADB) provided a million dollars to WHO, Ostrea, two hundred and sixty three thousand dollars through World Vision, Central Emergency Response Fund, one hundred and thirty one thousand dollars and forty eight through UNICEF.
He also said that the list of all the donations will be online, so that Sierra Leoneans will know the amount of money received and how it has been disbursed, for transparency and accountability.
The minister reiterated that while some of these resources come through Government, they have established a special account that everyone is aware of and for effective management of these resources, they have employed the services of KPMG, to ensure that oversight is provided and they have requested the office of the Auditor-General to provide real time audit services and recently they have worked out a procurement process with the KPMG, and they have also established an official Government website which can be easily accessed by all citizens.
The Director of Communications in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Sidie Yayah Tunis in giving the update for yesterday 15th September said that 334 people have survived the disease and have been discharged, and 49 new laboratory confirmed cases from the following district: Kenema 10, Bombali 31, Tonkolili 1, Western Area Urban 5, Western Area Rural 2 and that brings a total of cumulative case to 1, 503 with Kailahun having 518, Kenema 408, Kono 15, Bombali 113, Kambia 3, Koinadigu 0, Port Loko 143, Tonkolili 32, Bo 76, Bonthe 1, Moyamba 17, Pujehun 10, Western Area Urban 114, Western Area Rural 53.
Meanwhile, Koinadugu remains the only district in the country that has not reported any confirmed case of Ebola. For cumulative deaths which is a total of 468 with Kailahun having 192, Kenema 223, Kono 2, Bombali 6, Kambia 1, Port Loko 16, Tonkolili 2, Bo 16, Moyamba 6, Bonthe 1, Pujehun 1, Western Area Urban 3, and Western Area Rural 2.
By Nancy Koroma
Wednesday Sepember 17, 2014