Pader RDC Suspends COVID-19 Taskforce Meetings Over Delayed Allowances

URN-Pader Resident District Commissioner Dusman Okee has suspended all weekly COVID-19 management meetings over the alleged delays of payment of allowances to members of the task force.

Okee pronounced the suspension of the district COVID-19 task force engagements during a meeting held at the district headquarters on Thursday.

He said that the task force members can only reconvene after all their dues have been fully paid.

According to Okee, numerous requisition vouchers have been made to the Chief Administrative officer and the District Health Officer but no payments have been made to any of the task force members, ever since the COVID 19 funds were disbursed to the district three months ago.

Pader district received 498 million Shillings from the central government to facilitate its response to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The funds were meant to cater for allowances and inland travels for taskforce members and frontline workers that include medical health staff, village health team members, local council chairpersons, vehicle maintenance and medical supplies. But the Chief Administrative Officer Alex Chelimo attributed the delays to failures in the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) which had bogged down numerous transactions.