{"id":317726,"date":"2017-05-09T17:25:45","date_gmt":"2017-05-09T17:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=317726"},"modified":"2017-05-09T17:25:45","modified_gmt":"2017-05-09T17:25:45","slug":"us-cuts-kenya-health-aid-money-over-corruption-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/05\/us-cuts-kenya-health-aid-money-over-corruption-allegations\/","title":{"rendered":"US cuts Kenya health aid money over corruption allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"
The US has suspended $21m (\u00a316m) of funding to Kenya’s ministry of health due to concerns over corruption and weak accounting procedures, the state department said.<\/p>\n
But this amounts to a “small portion of the overall US health investment exceeding $650m annually,” it added<\/p>\n
In response, Kenya has said it is strengthening its auditing processes.<\/p>\n
Corruption allegations have dogged successive Kenyan governments for many years.<\/p>\n
The health ministry itself has been accused of corruption. Last year, it was alleged that the ministry misappropriated $50m by awarding contracts to politically-connected business people for inflated amounts.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the US said that the move is intended to ensure that “health care spending reaches those in need, and to protect US taxpayer money”.<\/p>\n
But it stressed that “support for life-saving and essential health services” will not be not affected.<\/p>\n
It added it was working with the ministry to improve accounting and it will restore funding if changes are made.<\/p>\n
A statement from USAID on Monday to organisations it supports said that the suspended funding covers salaries, wages and travel expenses.<\/p>\n
US ambassador to Kenya Bob Godec said the suspension had nothing to do with the general election in August and does not mean that US-Kenya relations are bad, the Daily Nation newspaper reports.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US has suspended $21m (\u00a316m) of funding to Kenya’s ministry of health due to concerns over corruption and weak accounting procedures, the state department said. But this amounts to a “small portion of the overall US health investment exceeding $650m annually,” it added In response, Kenya has said it is strengthening its auditing processes. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[6948,36,6949],"yoast_head":"\n