The Ministry of Health has described as ‘deeply shocking’ the National Audit Office report on how the Ministry spent the Covid-19 money.
The Ministry’s reaction comes days after the National Audit Office (NAO) has published its report which focused on the procurement and distribution of food and medical items within the Greater Banjul Area and some parts of the West Coast Region.
However, speaking to reporters, Minister of Health Dr Ahmadou Lamin Samateh, accused the National Audit Office of refusing to take into account most of the tangible testimonies and supporting documents of the Ministry of Health.
“NAO refusals to take into account most of the tangible testimonies and supporting documents the Ministry of Health placed at disposal of their audit team during the exercise. The Ministry believes the series provided as explained is not less than two management respond that would be required supporting documents continued to be deliberately ignored thereby inimical to principle of objective and fair reporting in this regard,” he said.
“The Ministry considers the NAO’s disregard of the Ministry’s views as deeply shocking and the manifestation of the audit team adamant result to only attract the public attention, but also reflection of the aggressive intend seen in some of the members of the audit team during the Ministry’s attraction with them while on the exercise,” he added.
He continued: “Against this backdrop, the general public is hereby presented some of the Ministry’s side of the story in terms of its management response and supporting documents shared with the auditors.”
