Where is the money? — Tanzania misused billions of covid-19 funds
After first denying the covid-19 crisis, Tanzania is now unable to account fully for aid received from abroad, as the country’s controller and auditor general has found irregularities of more than $1.6 billion in the funds allotted for the country’s Covid-19 socioeconomic recovery and response (TCRP) plan.
The audit report of Tanzania’s controller and auditor general Charles Kichere highlighted the flaws, with huge sums of money being misused while intended for the implementation of the country’s Covid-19 Socio-Economic Recovery and Response Plan (TCRP).
At the height of the pandemic between 2020 and 2022, East Africa’s most populous nation received much Covid-19 assistance in cash and loans from various sources. In 2021, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) disbursed a total of $972.4 million in Covid-19 relief. Tanzania also received $112 million from the Global Fund, besides nearly $44 million from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and $546,000 from the Irish government through the World Health Organization (WHO).
Tanzania was initially one of multiple countries whose leadership underplayed its seriousness even as millions died across the globe. Then president John Pombe Magufuli claimed that prayer and herbal remedies were more than sufficient to combat SARS-CoV-2. Meanwhile, the country’s healthcare system was overrun by the pandemic. To date, there is no accurate data on how many people in Tanzania died from the coronavirus.
Magufuli died in March 2021 from heart complications at a hospital in Dar es Salaam, with the opposition, however, saying that Magufuli died from SARS-CoV-2. The funds from IMF and other sources focused on health, education, water, tourism, social protection, energy, economic empowerment, and coordination and administration sectors for both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. The audit report, which was submitted to President Samia Suluhu Hassan last week, has highlighted the shortcomings that could be a red flag for fraudulent activities.
