THE GENERAL AUDITING Commission (GAC) has released an indicting audit on the former Director General of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL), Tolbert Nyenswah. According to the GAC report, the former NPHIL boss received salaries from NPHIL and the Ministry of Health amounting to US$24,000.00 and L$624,000.00. The report said the former NPHIL boss, prior to his appointment as Deputy Minister of Health at the Ministry of Health (MOH), was paid by both entities for three months, running from January to April of 2017.
THE AUDIT INDICATED that the Ministry of Health paid US$10,803.13 and L$297,532.34, and NPHIL paid US$24,000.00 and L$624,000.00 in net salaries. The GAC says that the double payment should be refunded to the Government of Liberia (GOL).
FURTHER ENUMERATING TOLBERT Nyanswah’s alleged financial malpractices, the GAC reported that transactions for various goods and services, in the amounts of US$136,556.12 and L$15,345,949.02 from the government’s funding provided to NPHIL, were processed and paid without supporting documents. “Management did not maintain payment vouchers along with the necessary supporting documents for several transactions in the amount of US$354,611.25 recorded in the ledgers of World Health Organization (WHO) Funds provided to NPHIL. The GAC requested the documents several times from management during the conduct of the audit but management did not provide the documents,” the report says.
THE GAC ALSO observed that the NPHIL management did not remit to the Consolidated Account, in keeping with the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act of 2009 unspent/closing cash balance of US$219,749.55 left in its bank accounts. The PFM requires that amounts not spent or committed by spending entities by the end of each fiscal year be sent to the Consolidated Fund for reallocation.
IT STATES THAT NPHIL management made payment in the amount of L$162,000.00 from the Government of Liberia (GOL) funds to an employee of NPHIL for catering services instead of the caterer. Further, the management of NPHIL made payments in the amount of US$29,155.00 from World Health Organization Funds in the names of employees of NPHIL for subsequent disbursements to the service providers/beneficiaries, rather than making the payments directly to the providers or their authorized representatives, as required by the Public Financial Management Act of 2009.
THE FORMER NPHIL boss has refuted the audit findings of the General Auditing Commission (GAC), claiming that allegations in the report are complete fallacy and lack facts.