Devex Newswire: Africa CDC scoop, Macron summit, PEPFAR abortion debate, and more

It’s been a busy week at Devex. Actually, it’s busy every week, but this week was particularly heavy on investigations and exclusives — so we decided to produce a special Saturday edition of Newswire to update you on the critical development news you might’ve missed during your own busy week. Spilling the CHAI tea We begin with Senior Reporter Sara Jerving’s bombshell about the myriad accusations swirling around the new head of the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Jean Kaseya, and his former employer, the Clinton Health Access Initiative. Not only has the Congolese doctor taken CHAI to labor court for not renewing his contract, but a series of strange events have also transpired that are raising uncomfortable questions about who Kaseya is, what actually happened, and what’s at stake. And the stakes are indeed high. Two CHAI employees have been detained in the Democratic Republic of Congo for allegedly covering up about the whereabouts of a Rwandan colleague accused of “suspicious” behavior, according to Kaseya, who became a player in the discussions. Shortly before the detentions and nine days after his appointment to lead Africa CDC, Kaseya allegedly stormed into CHAI’s Kinshasa office, accompanied by an armed bodyguard, and purportedly berated former colleagues for not giving him a farewell party and internal documents he’d requested, according to an incident report obtained by Devex. Kaseya vehemently rejects the characterization of his office visit and says he became involved in the detentions because he was asked to do so by a CHAI board member and because one of the detainees — who was also involved in the office kerfuffle — is a childhood friend whom he recruited to work for CHAI. Tying into this story are the longstanding tensions between the DRC and its archrival Rwanda, as well as questions over how Kaseya, who is relatively unknown in the wider international community, was chosen to lead an agency working to expand its influence in the global health realm. Exclusive: Africa CDC head's bizarre entanglement with Clinton initiative Emmanuel labor As Sara stays on top of Africa CDC, our Brussels Correspondent Vince Chadwick is on top of French President Emmanuel Macron’s much-ballyhooed summit for a New Global Financing Pact, which he’ll be attending later this month — so expect some sharp questions for leaders to get them out of their scripted shells. Ahead of the main event, Vince got a hold of a draft declaration intended to serve as a basis for internal discussions. In short, based on what he saw, the summit is not quite ready for prime time. That’s a big deal because it aims to tackle a slew of issues such as prodding rich nations to fulfill their climate finance commitments, galvanizing debt relief for struggling countries, and basically forging a new post-World War II relationship between wealthy countries and everyone else. “As usual, Macron has cast a wide net and now officials are scampering to produce convincing deliverables by June 23,” Vince tells me. “There are lots of ideas kicking around, like how to finance loss and damage for countries hit by climate change, and how to better deploy Special Drawing Rights from the IMF. Will participants at the summit actually agree to those changes, or will they just passively witness a French-driven communiqué that vows to look into it?” Scoop: First look at draft text for Macron's global financing summit PEPFAR reaching Advocates for PEPFAR are mobilizing to push back against a coordinated campaign to paint the flagship U.S. global AIDS initiative as a slush fund for the Biden administration's alleged radical social agenda, my colleague Michael Igoe tells me. The attacks caught PEPFAR supporters off guard just as they were gearing up for what many hoped and believed would be a smooth process to reauthorize the program for another five years. Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey and anti-abortion crusader on Capitol Hill, has been the political face of this unexpected campaign even though he has previously thrown his conservative Christian support behind the program. This week, Smith penned a letter to his colleagues demanding that any multiyear reauthorization of PEPFAR "must ensure that Biden’s hijacking of PEPFAR to promote abortion be halted.” None of the critics have produced concrete evidence that PEPFAR funds have been used to provide or promote abortions, which is legally prohibited by multiple provisions in PEPFAR's legislation. “PEPFAR has never, will not ever, use that platform in supporting abortion,” said U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator John Nkengasong at an event in Washington this week. “We lift the foot off the pedal and the 20 million people that are receiving lifesaving treatment within one year will die,” he warned. George Ingram of the Brookings Institution has some thoughts on what PEPFAR's reauthorization may look like. Don’t miss his talk with Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar and myself as we review this week’s top stories in global development in the third episode of our weekly podcast series. Read: PEPFAR chief rejects abortion funding allegations ICYMI: US lawmaker joins anti-abortion chorus of PEPFAR opponents Plus: Abortion politics cast shadow over PEPFAR reauthorization + Devex Pro members can learn about who PEPFAR’s top partners were in 2022, how much funding they received, and where they spent the money. Not a Pro member yet? Start your 15-day free trial. TakeDirectly $900,000 --— That’s the amount that members of GiveDirectly’s team in the DRC stole out of a total $7 million intended to help impoverished families, the organization revealed Monday. GiveDirectly is the biggest philanthropic organization within the cash transfer movement. The massive fraud scheme threatens to cast a pall over the idea of no-strings cash transfers to poor people, although experts say it’s no more susceptible to fraud than other forms of aid. Read: GiveDirectly reveals DRC staff stole $900k in mobile cash fraud scheme Liked getting our Saturday update? Let me know how you feel at anna.gawel@devex.com.