A container of aid materials designed to help fight the Ebola outbreak is at the centre of a political row in Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n
The $500,000 (\u00a3311,000) shipment – which include mattresses, stretchers and health worker protection kits – has been stranded at the port of the capital Freetown for weeks.<\/p>\n
An opposition politician says the government is refusing to clear it.<\/p>\n
But a health ministry official said the delivery was approved two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
It remains unclear why the aid has not moved from the port.<\/p>\n
More than 3,400 people have died during the current Ebola outbreak, nearly all of them in West Africa. In Sierra Leone the death toll is at least 678.<\/p>\n
The shipping container dispute erupted after Chernor Bah, a fierce critic of President Bai Koroma, said that the government had refused to pay duty on the aid delivery.<\/p>\n
Mr Bah told the BBC that officials had said they would not meet the $6,000 fee required for the items.<\/p>\n
However a spokesman for Sierra Leone’s health ministry, Yahyah Conteh, said that the government did not normally pay shipping fees for aid donors – but an an exception had been made for Mr Bah’s shipment and the payment had been made two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
Five cases an hour<\/b><\/p>\n
The BBC’s correspondent in Sierra Leone, Umaru Fofana, said that the government’s Ebola response plan has occasionally been characterised by internal wrangling among state officials.<\/p>\n
There have been allegations of corruption among officials responsible for tackling the virus, he added.<\/p>\n
Save the Children reported last week that the rate of Ebola infections was increasing rapidly in Sierra Leone, with five new cases every hour.<\/p>\n
Worldwide there have been more than 7,500 confirmed cases. Most have occurred in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Credit: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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