A former government minister has called for audit of the Winrock funding on Malaita in the wake of what is happening to USAID in America.
In a statement early this week, Alfred Sasako said the level of alleged abuse and in some cases outright robbery that have been uncovered, in the United States calls on those who oversaw the funding to account.
“It is public knowledge that USAID provided USD25 million funding for Malaita. The people of Malaita are owed an explanation as to who benefited from the US taxpayer dollar.
“On the basis of the what was uncovered in the United States, the people of Malaita are entitled to know where the funding has gone and who benefits from it,” Alfred said.
“I am particularly interested to know whether part of the five-year funding supported the corruption of the Solomon Islands Education Act with LBTQ to destroy our cultural values.
“I am raising this because that is what much of the funding was used for in other countries. Our politicians must also be answerable to the people of Solomon Islands on this matter,” he said.
Alfred said Malaitans in particular need to know. Their names have been used to access the money only to find that only a handful of people benefited while much of the funding has gone into consultants’ funding.
“WINROCK, tell us who benefited from your funding on Malaita. How many SCALE’S projects have you funded and how many individuals have you supported?
Alfred said as a Malaitan, he’s aware WINROCK was responsible for only USD15 million of the funding while USD10 million was used in other programs.
“We just need to know who benefits from the funding. “In my view, the only way to know is through an audit of how the money was used in the name of Malaitans,” Alfred said.
