Civil Servants will breathe a sigh of relief during the three days lock down as Government yesterday assured them, that their September salaries would be paid in the coming days.
This was contained in a press release issued by the Finance Ministry which states that the World Bank, using its existing Reproductive and Child Health project has, yesterday disbursed six million United States Dollars to government through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development as emergency support towards the fight against Ebola virus disease
In a press release issued yesterday, it was noted that the funds will support critical activities identified in the national response plan for the fight against Ebola as approved by the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).
The funds, it was stated, are deposited in a special Ebola response account held at the Bank of Sierra Leone. The manner in which the account will be operated remain the same as the Ebola Emergency Response account held at the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, including approval by the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) for expenditures and activities to be implemented. It is stated that KPMG will also provide fiduciary oversight on the use of the funds.
According to the release, the general public is informed that 16 of the 20 ambulances, which recently arrived in the country, were paid for from the Ebola Emergency Response account. The procurement process for an additional 20 regular ambulances, 10 specialized ambulances, and 20 hospital vehicles is being finalized, and will also be paid for from the EOC account.
It is said that the general public is further informed that government, through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, has provided a letter of comfort to all UN agencies for advance procurement of essential items to be paid for from the World Bank support.
In this regard, it went on, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently delivered a plane load of medical items in the country. With the receipt of the World Bank funds, the World Food Programme is now finalizing plans to purchase another 20 ambulances, 38 light vehicles and 16 mortuary vehicles to enhance the operational capacity of health teams.
For this support, the release noted, “government remains grateful to all our international partners as we fight to eradicate this disease in our country”.
Finally, the release states, “government continues to appeal to the general public to cooperate with all authorities in the fight to eradicate Ebola in our country”.
Thursday September 11, 2014