AIDS money not threatened by corruption allegations

Allegations of corruption within the Kenya National AIDS Control Council (NACC) will not affect grants due to be given to the Kenyan government by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. "The Global Fund is not involved at all in any kind of discussion with regard to this matter," Dr Elhadj Sy, Africa Director for the fund, told IRIN on Friday. "We have not issued any threats or any statement on this." On 18 June, the fund and the government of Kenya signed an agreement for grants worth US $52 million to fight AIDS, TB and malaria, US $37 million of which has been earmarked to fight HIV/AIDS. The money has not yet been handed over to the government to start implementing programmes. A police task force from the Kenyan anti-corruption unit began an investigation into the NACC last month, following persistent allegations of mismanagement. The force had begun interviews with employees and will make its findings public in a report, said Kassim Mambo, NACC's public relations manager. "There has been no misappropriation of funds or corruption at any time within the NACC," he told IRIN. "We have nothing to hide." Mambo said there were no "fresh allegations" of corruption within the NACC, but that doubts had remained in the mind of the public after allegations surfaced regarding the misappropriation of 19 million ksh (over US $257,000) in the run-up to World AIDS Day in 2001. In May 2002 an investigation was undertaken by the government inspectorate, part of the ministry of finance, which found that there were some irregularities regarding the procurement of items for that event, he said. These included not sending official letters to companies asking for quotations, and not receiving official quotation forms from the companies in return. "But there is a difference between not following procedures and the misappropriation of funds," he said, adding that the body did have receipts for all the purchased items, which included t-shirts and posters. Mambo said that in its first year of operation, 2000-2001, only 6 percent of the NACC's funds were used in AIDS programmes. He said that the council's initial funding had been used to "put up structures", such as the secretariat, the AIDS control committees which were launched nationwide, and also used for salaries. "There were no major activities that year," he said. In 2002, an estimated 700 people died of AIDS-related illnesses every day in Kenya. Over 3 million people are living with HIV, half of whom are under 30 years of age, while almost one million children have been orphaned due to the virus.