By Lawrence Williams

Contracts for the rehabilitation of 12 government hospitals and construction of three district health medical team (DHMT) offices across the country, awarded four years ago in 2021, have still not been completed, the Auditor General’s FY2024 report found.

These contracts, valued a little over 75 billion old leones (around $3.6m), were distributed among 15 contractors, with 14 of them receiving 30% advance payments after appending their signature to the contracts.

The auditors say this delay is unacceptable and recommended that the Ministry of Health’s procurement committee engage the contractors, as a matter of urgency, to see the completion of the projects.

Almost 12 years ago in July 2014, the Ministry of Health signed a contract with Fajaha Construction Company for construction of the Lumley Government Hospital. In April 2024, the ministry also signed an addendum with the same company for additional works, valued at $679,053.33.

The auditors noted that less than three months after signing the addendum, the ministry had already paid 100 percent of the contract amount to the contractor. This payment, the Auditor General said, was made before the work was verified and without any independent third-party confirmation.

During a site visit to the construction site, the auditors found that very important parts of the work were still not completed even though the contractor had been fully paid.

The recommendations state that the senior permanent secretary should take action to ensure the contractor completes the work as soon as possible, failing which the full amount paid should be recovered.

These findings raised questions about contract management and the use of public funds in the health sector.