United States senator Jim Risch has called on the World Bank (WB) to impose stricter accountability measures for a US$7 million grant extended to Zimbabwe to support the COVID-19 response.
In a letter to WB president David Malpass, Risch said Zimbabwe has a history of diverting international aid to enrich the ruling elite.
This, Risch said, was evidenced by the diversion of Cyclone Idai aid, leaving several communities in Chimanimani suffering.
“I urge the World Bank to impose very strict benchmarks and transparency and accountability measures on the US$7 million grant and any future programmes for Zimbabwe to ensure that procurement processes are fair and transparent,” Risch said, adding that they wanted to ensure that contracts are awarded to Zimbabwean companies not on sanctions list.
Risch said he was relieved to hear that the US$7 million grant would be managed and implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services and the Dutch Catholic Organisation for Relief and Development Aid, but his worries remained that the funding would also fall into the wrong hands directly or indirectly.
