Ebola pay out to Sierra Leone’s 12 Paramount Chiefs is $1.2 million
The 12 sitting Paramount Chiefs of the 11 districts in Sierra Leone have received a total of $1.2 million from the National Ebola Response Centre. The officer in charge of the center, Palo Conte says that the chiefs had written a proposal to “combat ebola”. Paramount Chiefs are the traditional rulers of the 11 districts in Sierra Leone.
Conte said that the World Bank provided the funds that were paid to the Chiefs through the Ministry of Local Government.
Pardon me a brief moment to ask a couple questions just to better understand the rationale behind this decision. How does one combat ebola other than by creating more beds, and better incentives for health workers? Is it not better to buy the tools needed to combat ebola for the various districts rather than just handing off bags of money? How does the government ensure that the $1.2 million is not going to end up in someone’s bank account? Where is the best practice that suggests that handing out bags of money will fix a public health crisis?
Under the current situation how does giving away $1.2 million reduce the spread of ebola? Why is the World Bank facilitating this kind of senseless spending? Has the Bank recently developed “chop my money I don’t care syndrome”?
Meanwhile junior doctors in Sierra Leone have gone on strike demanding that the government buy life saving equipment like dialysis machines to treat infected health care workers. The doctors started their strike today after the country lost its 10th doctor to ebola.
Are you wondering how many dialysis machines $1.2 million could buy on Alibaba? Yeah me too.
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Please join us for a Webinar on, “The Billion Dollar Ebola Project: How Corruption and Lack of Trust in West Africa Has fueled the Ebola Crisis.”
Here is the link:
http://www.bigmarker.com/twenty-first-century-african/the-billion-dollar-ebola-project.
Thanks.
P.S. Help us build a case against this inhuman act.
i would for fairness sake ask for a follow up story on the activities of the Paramount Chiefs as to how $1.2million will be spent. The public or the people from all 11 districts should demand records and make these Paramount Chiefs accountable.
You read my mind, why r they being paid exactly? Wow! Salone I just cant believe they would do such a thing, ok my question is if the chiefs got $1.2, how much did the rest of them got. I am just sick and tired of politicians in Sierra Leone.
This is how our leaders in Sierra Leone threat it people’s Allah will judge them for us and distroy their entire families.
There r over 100 paramount chiefs. Point of correction. The chiefs r yet to receive d money.
Here we go again. The present situation shows how unprepared we are. We lack a lot of materials like ppes, thermometers, proper gloves especially for surgical cases. There is very little coordination between hospitals and mohs. More funds should be spent on health wokers and materials to enable us to work in a safer environment
I am made to understand that the $1.5million is for distribution among the 150 Paramount Chiefs in the country to enable them to combat the disease in their respective chiefdoms. In his recent address to Parliament the President warned that all who receive funds for Ebola programmes will be required to account for them. I also learn that they are required to submit their programmes of action before they receive the money. Let us wait and see what happens then.
What’s wrong with the Sierra Leone government when are they going to stop the mess and corruption.
With so many doctors and nurses dying and all those innocent people, that is where the money should be going or should have gone.
What type of proposals do the Paramount Chiefs have to cure EBOLA or to heal those already affected??? Are they trained medical personnel? ??
The World Bank should have given that money to organizations such as Doctors without Boarders.
Who all are getting “kickbacks” from this money going to the Paramount Chiefs? Is Mr Palo Conte one of them?
Have you all watched BBC news lately? ???
The number of deaths is rising every day. The money should go to where it is needed the most- those that are out there everyday trying to save lives, educate and bury the dead.
Shame on the Sierra Leone Govt!!
do you know that the is a form of loan plus interest which the government have to pay ,the government is fooling people ,he is the main contributor on this issued ,it is a time to tell the true ,the government as a whole is selling sierra leone to the west at the end ,he leave us with a big debt ,it is highlight for him to step down as he is part of the corruption line
I am just wondering what the source of this write-up may be. The facts are basically wrong, ‘am sorry to say. In the first place we do not have 11 Districts in Sierra Leone, but 14. ’12 sitting paramount chiefs of 11 districts’?. this is very misleading. 1.2million dollars was not packaged and dolled out to 12 Paramount Chiefs as you may be implying. I advise you read and understand the following excerpt extracted from an article that was widely published last week in order to get a better insight into the whole issue:
‘The money was provided to supplement on-going efforts of government to stem the Ebola outbreak by strengthening the capacities of Chiefdom Councils/Tribal and Village Administrations, and providing the enabling environment to effectively partner with Central Government and other Agencies through measures that will have sustainable benefits.
The Objectives
To facilitate the Chiefdom Councils in the Provinces and the Tribal and Village Administrations in the Western Area to:
• Continue to educate their residents on the EVD, prevention of other diseases, the Bye-Laws (including their enforcement) and environmental sanitation.
• Undertake daily home visits to monitor all residents, identify strangers, facilitate bringing out the sick, identify non-Ebola illnesses for the attention of medical authorities, report and advise on environmental sanitation issues.
• Continue to erect and effectively man check points at key entry points (roads, tracks, riverine routes) to monitor movements in and between Chiefdoms.
• Organise coordination meetings to review reports from Section Ebola Committees and Village Ebola Committees.
With the above, you should know that the money was paid to all 149 Paramount Chiefs down to Village Headmen in the Western Area, and the purposes for which the amount is used is clearly spelt out. I hope i have succeeded in clearing the air. In future, should you and your organisation need clarification on issues relating to the activities of the Ministry of Local Government in Sierra Leone, i advise you contact me by Email of phone: 076626358. In fact a website will soon be launched where you can source all relevant information. I entreat you to always find out the facts from the appropriate sources before putting anything up on the social media. Thanks
Dandeson Smith
Information, Education and Communication Officer
Decentralisation Secretariat
Ministry of Local Government and Rural development
Youyi Building
Freetown
How insane can this be? No wonder the Ebila crises is under control in worst striken areas like Liberia & Guinea! What is wrong with our beloved Sierra Leone? May be we should all raise issues like this so that our voices are heard loudly and clearly! Thanks for starting this discussion!
If public officials cannot account for funds dispersed to them towards fighting this public emergency they should be surgically removed immediately. What we cannot afford to do is circumnavigate around dysfunctional elements of the system and babysit ineffective structures by doing the work for them while sitll leaving them insitu. If they do not account for resources when challenged (oh, and they will be) ………!!
Did that amount go to only 12 paramount chiefs out of 149? http://sierra-leone.org/chiefdoms.html