There is no paperwork to support payments of 14 billion leones, or $3.3 million, from government Ebola accounts, while $2.5 million in disbursements had incomplete documentation, the country’s auditor general, Lara Taylor-Pearce, said in the report.
The accounting lapses ultimately resulted in “a reduction in the quality of service delivery in the health sector,” according to the report, which was posted on the Audit Service’s website. It was presented to Parliament on Friday.
“It is hoped that adequate action will be taken to address issues raised in this report,” the report added.
The country of six million has had almost 11,000 Ebola cases and 3,363 deaths during the epidemic, which has raged in West Africa for nearly a year.
From May to October 2014, the period covered by the audit, the government spent more than $19 million on its Ebola response.
The money came from taxes and donations from institutions and individuals, mostly within Sierra Leone, and the figure does not include funds from the United Nations or charities, the report said.
A government spokesman told reporters this month that the country had lost an estimated $900 million in revenue because of the outbreak.
Around one-third of $2.9 billion pledged by international donors had not reached Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia by the end of 2014, according to an analysis by the BMJ, formerly The British Medical Journal, cited by the Bloomberg news agency.
The United Nations is seeking $1 billion more in aid to contain the outbreak."
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