Global Fund stripping off National Aids Commission (NAC) as the country’s Principal Recipient (PR) status because of financial mismanagement, is impacting in a negative way local HIV/AIDS organizations as they face closings and laying off staffs due to scaling down of funding.
The recently being the cash-stricken Malawi Aids Counseling and Resources Organisation (Macro) which has just fired 66 of its 107 employees and grounded most of its vehicles due lack of funding whose main source is NAC.
Macro’s financial predicament has been worsened due to NAC’s loss as Global Fund PR for the country after the commission last year was involved in a financial scandal when wrongly disbursed grants to undeserving beneficiaries.
Some of these undeserving benefactors including the Malawi First lady, Gertrude Mutharika’s Beatify Malawi (Beam) and cultural grouping Mulhakho wa Alhomwe gotten MK5 million and MK9 million respectively yet the two institutions are not directly involved on HIV/AIDS activities.
The financial mess at NAC prompted Malawi’s CSOs petitioning the two organizations in January early this year to refund the money to the commission which until now nothing of that sort has been complied although some business men tried to rescue Beam by paying back the money through the treasury.
In a communication statement, leaked to the local press which The Maravi Post has also seen, Macro’s Human Resources Manager Jackson Mpando addressing to its members of staff said the institution has led off some employees due to financial hiccups affecting its operations.
“Macro was still clueless on the availability of funding for the skeletal team that would be retained. Its from this point of view that the organization is trimming the size of the staff team which means that other half of the team will be communicated once we have green right.
“Therefore, we are retaining eight staff members at the secretariat such that all branches have the same shake up including Zomba with three, Lilongwe six, Blantyre nine, Mzuzu seven and Kasungu three while Karonga will have two.
“Thus, it has to be noted that the rest of staff members wont report for duties starting from July 1, 2015 and that gratuities from Vanguard Insurance have been deposited in Macro’s EcoBank Account and will be ready by the same date”, reads the memo.
Kibble Ngalauka, Macro Executive Director confirmed the development to The Maravi Post saying retrenchment was effected from July 1, 2015 after all the staff members were given a three month notice from April 2015 with 66 employees affected by the exercise and 41 retained.
“Macro gets funding from Global Fund through NAC, since the commission is no longer a Principal Recipient of Global Fund, has affected our operations. Currently, the organization is in the process of formulating a new strategic plan in line with the new concept of 90-90-90 that NAC and Ministry of Health are working towards having Macro funded through other donors.
“Beside its traditional functions, the institution has also subcontracted by Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation (EGPAF) and Baylor to place 100 HIV Diagnostic Assistants (HDAs) in hospitals and health centres including Mzimba, Rumphi, Ntchisi, Machinga and Mangochi”, said Ngalauka.
NAC Acting Executive Director, Davie Kalomba has however refused linking Macro’s financial woes to his institution with Global Fund saga saying Macro was not specifically supported by funds from Global Fund rather by other means.
“It’s not a secret that NAC has scaled down its funding portfolio to implementing partners of HIV and AIDS activities due to a drop in funding levels from development partners. This hasn’t ultimately affected only Macro but also all other implementing partners whose HIV/AIDS activities were supported through the NAC Grants Facility.
“NAC was processing grant applications from implementing partners including Macro but due to the little resources available, NAC will rationalize the grants to implementing partners based on the current basket of resources for activities to continue running”, assures Kalomba.
NAC has been supporting Macro with a MK425 million grant yearly which formed the bulk of its budget line hence with scaling down of funding, running activities is likely to face huddles.
Macro plays a big role in providing Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT), ART services, family planning and referral services, sexual reproduction including condom education and distribution across the nation.
