A whistleblower at the Ministry of Health has alleged that the officials overseeing the eye-watering 500 million dalasi coronavirus fund were “corrupt”. 

In a letter sent to Ahmad Manjang, a health care worker and was shared on his Facebook page, the whistleblower claimed that the officials were using the pandemic to enrich themselves by spending huge sums of money on personal allowances and vehicles.

“We are here at the ministry dealing to some of the most heartless civil servants in the country. Whiles people are worried senior officials at the ministry are worries about how much allowances they and their colleagues can get from the D500 Million  the government is allocating for the fight against Covid 19 SARS 2,” the unnamed whistleblower said.

“I don’t even know where to begin with the drama going on at the Ministry of Health. It is dangerous to have such greedy/ senseless people heading an important unit like health care.”

On the purchase of medical equipment, the whistleblower alleged that: “They claimed their shopping list for equipment us under review. Let me put it bluntly my brother because I am so angry. I think after this situation I will move to another job. The damage within the Health ministry is nothing I have seen anywhere in the Gambia. 

“The Minister Samateh is a good man, but he does not understand the politics of greed these civil servants, are into. PS, DPS, Director, senior staff at the budget room, procurement etc, are all part and parcel of the problem. I am not saying they are all guilty, but after this problem they there should be an audit by a foreign firm. 

“These people are not worried by the Virus, but who to strike a deal with for contracts. Dr Samateh is clueless what is going on honestly, that is why the effort the ministry is not effective.”

The whistleblower called on the government to take swift action against the corrupt officials at the ministry. 

“I am telling you this, because if the General Public did not wake up and stop these people they will rob the Gambians in the middle of a crisis. This ministry was given more than D1.2 billion by government. This is separated from the funds from organ (sic) like WHO, and other donors. Now the money is going to flow in their faces they cannot control their lust for blood. 

“The Ministry of Health is a very dangerous place. You cannot imagine the people we are calling professional. They are playing games with the lives of Gambians. Now they bought 8 new pickups last, and there is plans for more. 

“The car dealers are fighting to get a piece of the pie. I have enough. I am out of this place very soon. They disgust me with their excuses and fear mongering. Some of them I used to respect a lot but now I cannot even look at them. 

“People should put pressure on the ministry to tell the nation what are their plans for quarantine, extra beds in different regions, ventilators, spraying of public places, most importantly protective things for the nurses and doctors.”

The Ministry of Health has been contacted for comment 

Below we reproduce the letter that was shared on Facebook.

“This is From a senior Ministry of Health insider regarding the 500m Dalasis Covid19 fund. 

A little lengthy, but please read. 

“How are you bro, are you staying home for us?

We are here at the ministry dealing to some of the most heartless civil servants in the country. Whiles people are worried senior officials at the ministry are worries about how much allowances they and their colleagues can get from the D500 Million  the government is allocating for the fight against Covid 19 SARS 2. I dont even know where to begin with the drama going on at the ministry of health. It is dangerous to have such greedy/ senseless people heading an important unit like health care.

1. There are two funds available for the fight against the Coronavirus outbreak. There D500 million, another 10 US Dollars and AfDB promised to support the government in the fight.  The scammers at the ministry are eyeing all these funds presently. 

2. You wonder why there is delay in telling the people how the monies are going to be spent, well it is because the first budget they sent to Finance Ministry was rejected. You wont believe what these people sent to be approved. Out the D500 Million, more than 90% was requested by the health ministry. Out of that 400m  or more, 80% was for allowances. The rest was for hotel payments due to the quarantine and vehicle purchases. The excuses is that they need to compensate the doctors and nurses properly. That’s true health care worker need to paid well, but the price tag was highly inflated in my view. My responsibility is not the budget but even those incharge were outrage by the greed they saw on that document. No wonder it was sent back to them by the Finance and Economic ministry.  

3. They claimed their shopping list for equipment us under review. Let me put it bluntly my brother because I am so angry. I think after this situation I will move to another job. The damage within the Health ministry is nothing I have seen anywhere in the Gambia. The Minister Samateh is a good man, but he does not understand the politics of greed these civil servants, are into. PS, DPS, Director, senior staff at the budget room, procurement etc, are all part and parcel of the problem. I am not saying they are all guilty, but after this problem they there should be an audit by a foreign firm. 

These people are not worried by the Virus, but who to strike a deal with for contracts. Dr Samateh is clueless what is going on honestly, that is why the effort the ministry is not effective. Believe me there are too many task forces and no body know what the other is doing. It’s like they are in a competetion. A colleague told me the sharp elbows are out. These people do not want any other ministry to get involve in the fight against the virus. In public they are speaking about a united effort but they are blocking Defence and Interior.

4.Now they want more money from AfDB to purchase equipment. There is no plan to spray public places until more money is available. Can you guess how many working ventilators are in the government hospitals? They are not planning to stock up on ventilators,  a veteran worker here told me, they are hoping to beg for ventilators and use the money made available to enrich themselves. This is not the first time a equipment shopping list has been ignored.

5. I am telling you this, because if the General Public did not wake up and stop these people they will rob the Gambians in the middle of a crisis. This ministry was given.more than D1.2 billion by government. This is separated from the funds from organ like WHO, and other donors. Now the money is going to flow in their faces they cannot control their lust for blood. The ministry of health is a very dangerous place. You cannot imagine the people we are calling professional. They are playing games with the lives of Gambians. Now they bought 8 new pickups last, and there is plans for more. The car dealers are fighting to get a piece of the pie. I have enough. I am out of this place very soon. They disgust me with their excuses and fear mongering. Some of them I used to respect a lot but now I cannot even look at them. People should put pressure on the ministry to tell the nation what are their plans for quarantine, extra beds in different regions, ventilators, spraying of public places, most importantly protective things for the nurses and doctors. 

If the Chinese businessman did not supply us with some of those things, our people will be exposed. Trust me if we are not careful they will sell most the materials to businesses within and outside the Gambia. People here are worries  about the virus, but some of these senior people are sick people they are heartless. 

Let me tell you one thing though, this crisis is not ending now. The Gambia need to prepare for the worse whiles hoping for a miracle. We need to put pressure on the government to put the health ministry in order.  I have never believe such people exist in this country. Now I understand how former president Jammeh managed to have an Aids treatment clinic without professionals within the medical branch were incapable to stopping it. The corruption in this ministry is beyond believe especially now. 

I cannot give you official documents because they can trace it to me of my colleague, but believe me most of the people here are not happy with they way the fight against Coronavirus is being conducted. There is chaos and the minister is overwhelmed like most health ministers around the world. The difference is that his support staff is weak and greedy.

I dont know how you can share this information but we must wake the people up before it too late. Its live and dead situation and nobody is save until we put proper prevention and containment plans in place. That cannot happen with the funds being properly managed. The ministry cannot handle these funds. The Preisdent need to take charge and set up a proper one stop shop task force, that will include all ministries that can contribute and the task force should be headed by a qualified retired civil servant. 

If not we will in serious trouble and no body will have time to audit these people because we will be overwhelmed with sick people and a chaotic country. This is a serious matter my brother. I could not sleep for almost two weeks. As we speak there is more that a billion Dalasis available for this fight, but some people have their own designs in those funds. Of course they cannot do it without the help of some private sector operators who have been doing this for a long time.

My colleagues at trade where gobsmacked when they saw the fund raising on TV by GCCI. L, was crying whiles he was watching the show. When Gambians were calling and giving their last, he said imagine these people who enjoyed a lot of tax breaks and contracts from government annually cannot even give more than a million dalasis when government is giving them 100s of millions of dalasis contracts and tax breaks annually. Imagine Gaye company given 300,000 and everyone is celebrating. 

They were given 600 million Dalasis in Feb this year.  All major private companies including Africell, Qcell who gave only a million when last year governemnt gave them  million in dollars worth of tax breaks and other benefits like contracts. He was mad pissed of. Have you seem what rich people in other nations are doing was his argument. 

Even last night he was talking about us the young civil servants to organise a mass protest after this to end the madness. I am not going to be part of any protest. I am out of here asap. I have enough of this bro. We are watching a gang of brutal citizens rob this country dry. How many companies are really contributing heavily

I am so tired. I am going to resign as soon as this is over. I cannot live with these things happening right around me and I cannot report it. My father warned me that I will not last long in this governemnt, and little did I know that a virus will bring the cause of my resignation. I cannot do much, but I thought let me share this with people who are active on social media. Watch out for the spending list of the ministry of health and their excuses. 

Dont fall for it. The ministry does not have the capacity to oversee this crisis. They need help from other ministries and that will also reduce the corruption since they will not be entirely in charge. After this problem the government should really take a good look at this ministry. The waste is too much. I hope you are keeping yourself in door and not idling. Have a good afternoon.”