Satang B. Houma, the first prosecuting stated that between 2018 and 2020 there was a grant agreement of about thirty million US Dollars (US$30 million) and the implementation plan of the grant was from July 2018 to 30 June 2021.
She testified that from July 2018 to 30 July 2021 there was a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Health and the Health Promotion Development Organization and there were activities to be implemented. She said she could not remember the names of the specific activities because they were technical malaria jargons. However, she said they had to do with vector resistance and long-lasting insecticide nets.
PW1 further testified that four different activities were done in December 2018 and January 2020 and the payments were done in seven different installments. In addition, she said the payments of the first activity were done in one installment and the remaining three programmes were each paid in two installments.
She further disclosed that the first activity was funded with about 59 thousand dollars, equivalent at the time to 2.9 million dalasis; the second activity was funded with 2.1 million dalasis, the third activity cost about 2.86 million dalasis and the fourth activity was about 3.5 million dalasis, which totaled to eleven million, four hundred and seventy-three thousand and twenty-three dalasis.
She continued that the fund was made to HePDO by the project coordinators unit but the payment instructions were signed by the financial controller and the programme manager of the National Malaria Programme after confirmation that the reports submitted by HePDO were acceptable.
PW1 further elaborated on the process of payment as a financial controller. She said that when they receive a request in the Project Coordination Unit, they check for the eligibility of the activity and whether it could be financed by the grant.
Additionally, they checked and approved budgets that were signed between the Ministry of Health and the Global Fund, and every activity was included in the detailed budget and time of the implementation.
“When we checked and saw everything was in order we endorsed for the programme manager to submit the request to the Permanent Secretary for approval and when it was approved, it was returned to their unit to process the disbursement of funds,” she said, stating that the payment voucher was prepared by an accountant, checked by a senior accountant, endorsed by a financial controller and approval by the relevant programme manager. “In this case, it was a malaria activity, so it was approved by the programme manager of the Malaria Control Programme, Balla Kandeh.”
The matter was adjourned until 13 November 2023 for the defence counsel’s cross-examination of PW1.
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