Exclusive: Africa CDC audit warns against creating an 'avenue for fraud'

When it came time for Africa’s leading public health agency to choose an event planner for its flagship conference, a Zambian company won the bid for $618,638. But they were ultimately paid nearly $2.4 million. The invitation for bids for the job had only been sent to four companies — when it should have been open to the public. People not qualified in procurement evaluated the company proposals — and didn’t follow the rules. The contracted company breached the contract. It was a mess. These are the findings of an African Union audit, which cautioned that failure to follow the AU’s procurement rules could create an “avenue for fraud.” Dr. Jean Kaseya, the African continent’s top public health official at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, had requested the audit — which Devex obtained a copy of — after complaints emerged about his leadership during his first year in office. Over the past year, a series of anonymous emails and a letter were sent to AU leadership, donors, and partner organizations with a raft of accusations. After an email in February was sent to over 60 people, Kaseya asked the AU’s Office of Internal Oversight to investigate the accusations. The audit, which was finalized in March, analyzed over a dozen allegations in the February whistleblower email. This included allegations of misusing funds, flouting rules, and exhibiting favoritism, among others. Accusations in two other emails and a letter sent last year weren’t examined. It’s unclear how many whistleblowers are involved. The auditors found evidence to disprove some allegations against Kaseya, but had inadequate access to fully examine others, and also raised concern around weak financial controls and irregular hiring practices. In response to questions from Devex, Africa CDC shared a copy of Kaseya’s response to the auditors. In it, he acknowledged some of Africa CDC’s shortcomings, discussed steps Africa CDC is taking to remedy them, and welcomed recommendations to ensure Africa CDC strives to “promote a culture of integrity.” Growing pains Africa CDC, a relatively young organization, is tasked with working to ensure the health of the continent’s population of over 1 billion people. The organization rose in prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as an outspoken critic of the inequity of global health systems, calling for a shake-up in the status quo so the continent can achieve greater health security in areas such as local pharmaceutical manufacturing, disease surveillance, and having enough trained health workers. But the audit paints a picture of an organization experiencing growing pains. It’s in the middle of staff growth and developing internal systems in areas like financial management — while struggling to secure adequate funding to finance its ambitious plan for expansion. Africa CDC has two key ways of receiving funding — internally from the AU and from external donors. The auditors weren’t privy to many of the documents related to external funding, preventing them from conducting an exhaustive review of all of the accusations. For example, the auditors didn’t have access to documents from the conference that involved spending of donor funds, and so their analysis was based on the evaluation report used to choose the event planner. Africa CDC didn’t provide Devex with an explanation of the limited access but said their teams gave auditors all documents in their possession, including some documents from implementing partners. Africa CDC is also conducting their own investigations into what happened during the procurement of the event planner in Zambia, and said the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, whose funding was spent for the conference, is doing the same. Hiring irregularities Africa CDC is in a state of transition. The organization was launched in 2017 as an African Union specialized technical institute. As such, Africa CDC didn’t have its own financial management or human resources systems — those were managed within the broader AU. This bogged the organization down with bureaucracy — which is particularly problematic during health emergencies. To give the organization more flexibility, in early 2022, African government leaders granted Africa CDC the right to evolve into a public health agency — giving it more autonomy from the AU. But it's a lengthy process, and Africa CDC is still building up its systems to operate more independently in areas such as managing its own money. For example, it hired its first director of finance, Omar Rakib, in March. These changes have also included the ability to expand its workforce. It’s amid a hiring spree to fill these roles. But hiring has for years been under scrutiny in the AU, which is in the midst of reforms to ensure recruitment is merit-based. In 2023, Kaseya’s own appointment drew high-level criticism for a lack of transparency around the process. The AU audit pointed out that Kaseya hasn’t always followed the rules when appointing new staff and highlighted cases where efforts to create regional balance and gender equity weren't prioritized. Hiring Africa CDC staff starts with an AU computerized system that creates a long list of candidates, which is then provided to a selection panel which creates a short list, Africa CDC’s acting deputy director general, Dr. Raji Tajudeen, told Devex. These candidates must then take a test and are interviewed. This panel then provides Kaseya with a list of the top three candidates. Tajudeen said Kaseya has discretion in hiring one of the top three candidates but also must pay attention to gender equality and regional diversity. When Kaseya took over the organization a year ago, men accounted for 70% of the staff and more than 90% of senior management. Additionally, some 81% of the staff were English-speaking on a continent with a wide range of language diversity — this includes 39% of countries officially speaking French. And more than half of the staff came from Kenya and Ethiopia — an uneven balance for a continent with 54 countries. But hiring over the past year didn’t always work to remedy these imbalances nor focus on merit. In one case, Kaseya hired a technical officer who the candidate selection panel ranked poorly, the audit highlighted. This person ranked last out of six candidates, scored the lowest average grade during the hiring process, and “basically failed the interview,” the auditors wrote. Kaseya also appointed another technical officer, who was the third-ranked candidate, and left out the highest-ranked candidates without justification. In another case, Kaseya hired a candidate from East Africa — a region that is already well-represented at Africa CDC even though that person finished third on a list of prospective hires produced by an AU hiring panel. In doing so, he passed over a higher-ranked candidate from southern Africa despite a dearth of regular staffers from that region. Kaseya did so without justifying his decision, the audit stated. In a third case, Kaseya appointed a man over a woman from the same country who was deemed more qualified than him by the selection panel that assessed candidates. Kaseya also appointed about a dozen advisers. Hiring this many advisers isn’t a violation of the AU’s rules, the audit said. But most of the advisers have titles similar to other directors, which raises concerns about duplication of job roles, it said. But the audit also knocked down a series of whistleblower claims that Kaseya played favorites, including showing a preference for hiring Francophone Africans. Africa CDC provided the auditors with a list of the 36 hires made since Kaseya took office — 23 are English speakers, 12 were French speakers, and one is an Arabic speaker. A whistleblower also accused Kaseya of blacklisting candidates from certain countries and providing favored candidates with advanced access to interview questions for a leg-up. He was also accused of appointing his “right-hand man” — a former colleague of his from the Clinton Health Access Initiative — as senior adviser despite his “lack of experience and qualifications,” according to the whistleblower. Auditors didn’t find evidence to support these allegations. Kaseya did hire his former colleague, but the audit determined he was qualified. Kaseya defended his hiring of advisers, noting that he was constrained by a shortage of funding from the African Union. As part of efforts to make Africa CDC more autonomous, the AU has given Africa CDC the go-ahead to hire more full-time staff, but hasn't fully met its obligation to foot the bill. Africa CDC requires $8.7 million annually to pay salaries for full-time staff, but the AU has only provided his agency with $4 million for salaries. Africa CDC has sought to fill staffing gaps by seeking funds from donors who underwrite the costs of hiring advisers but they aren’t considered full-time AU staff members. But this has led to the appointment of a disproportionate number of advisers who carry out functions which should be filled by staffers. The auditors advised that the AU develop guidelines on political appointments to avoid creating positions that aren’t within Africa CDC’s approved structure. Auditors found reasonable explanations around some of the other accusations as well. For example, Kaseya was accused of a “misuse of donor funds” for purchasing a “huge vehicle” costing over $120,000 “for his personal use despite having another luxury vehicle provided by AU.” Auditors found he had only been given the AU car on loan, and the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation agreed to buy him a car. In another case, he was accused of reorganizing the agency in a way that suppresses “dissenting voices” — and the whistleblower highlighted an example where he split a department in two. But auditors found Kaseya was within his rights to make this split. Weak oversight But Africa CDC’s troubles highlighted in the audit go beyond hiring and procurement practices. The audit found weak oversight of implementing partners, including a lack of guidance on how they should operate when working with Africa CDC. It’s long been practice that Africa CDC depends on partner organizations to manage donor money on its behalf because the young organization is still building up its internal systems in areas like financial management. For example, Africa CDC is currently working to receive donor money directly into its own bank accounts. External organizations are slated to manage some $346 million in funds for Africa CDC this year, according to the audit. This includes $202 million going toward the African Field Epidemiology Network, or AFENET, which often plays a fund management and disbursement role for Africa CDC programs. The African Society for Laboratory Medicine, or ASLM, which is helping Africa CDC strengthen the continent’s ability to detect disease outbreaks, is handling $54.6 million. The African Public Health Foundation, which raises funds for Africa CDC, was allocated $39 million. Africa CDC and the AU have limited oversight powers to monitor these entities. For instance, Africa CDC’s current agreements with AFENET and other partner organizations lack provisions allowing AU oversight teams to audit them. Africa CDC also doesn’t have procedures in areas such as how these organizations should hire staff, procure goods, and manage finances. In response to questions from Devex, ASLM defended its management of Africa CDC funds, saying it has its own policies to ensure compliance with donor requirements and country laws, and undergoes independent audits. It said it also works closely with Africa CDC on implementing projects. But Kaseya, in his response to auditors, agreed that his organization needs to improve the ways it works to “ensure control, proper use and accountability” of donor funds, as well as improve the overall working environment. For example, he said Africa CDC plans to establish an ethics office to “improve workplace culture, support employees, and provide an informal and confidential space to identify and address issues.” He wrote that his teams have a commitment to “promote a culture of integrity, establish a robust procedure, provide the needed disclosure to stakeholders, and protect the overall integrity of the African Union and Africa CDC.” Messy procurement The haphazard ways in which the event planner was chosen for the Zambia conference which took place last November also underscores the depths of Africa CDC’s oversight challenges. Zambian-based Image Promotion Limited was initially awarded the contract — as the lowest bidder — at $618,638. The contract was then revised upward to $1.6 million after the company had already won the bid. A senior science officer at Africa CDC, who was one of the individuals who led the procurement process, justified the increase because the event planners were asked to expand their services, including by supporting more conference sessions. But auditors found this justification to be “untenable” because the company knew what was expected of them from the get-go. The request for proposals, which is what they responded to with their first bid of $618,638, comprehensively outlined what the job entailed. On top of that, there was a separate revenue stream that Image Promotion collected for things such as registration, exhibitions, and side events. Out of that revenue, Image Promotion kept another $717,000 in addition to the $1.6 million contract they received. But this put the company in “breach of the agreement” for holding onto that additional $717,000 because those costs were already included in the agreement, the audit said. This means the company was ultimately paid nearly $2.4 million. The auditors also said the rules of procurement weren’t followed when Image Promotions was chosen and their contract was expanded. Because there was a “huge contract price variation” from the amount initially awarded and the actual contract, the work should have been re-advertised to other bidders in accordance with the AU’s rule, the auditors wrote, to “ensure transparency and value for money.” The audit shone a light on the convoluted interactions that led to this. AFENET was tasked with procuring the event planner on behalf of Africa CDC with funds from the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation — one of Africa CDC’s donors. An evaluation committee with Africa CDC staff members was formed to guide AFENET on the decision of which company to pick. But without a clear reason, two of the three Africa CDC staff who were a part of this group didn’t have the needed procurement credentials — and therefore weren’t well-equipped to follow proper procurement rules. The procurement invitation was sent to only four firms — but the AU’s rules dictate that any procurement over $100,000 must be opened to the public. And the rules also dictate that the AU Tender Board should be involved with any contract of over $1.5 million — and in this case, it wasn’t. In his response to auditors, Kaseya wrote he was unaware his staff and implementing partner had flouted the AU’s procurement rules at the time they occurred. One of the problems is that Africa CDC has traditionally allowed implementing partners to use their own procurement policies, without involving Africa CDC or using the AU’s procurement manual, Kaseya wrote. But this will change, he said. The organization is building systems to conduct its own procurement. AFENET, meanwhile, defended its own role in the conference deal. Dr. Simon Nyovuura Antara, the organization’s director, told Devex that the decision to increase Image Promotion’s contract size “were initiated by officers in Africa CDC” and personally approved by Kaseya. The $1.6 million price tag was fully authorized. Image Promotion Limited didn’t respond to Devex’s repeated requests for comment. The auditors made a series of recommendations to Africa CDC ranging from ensuring AU procurement rules are followed to ensuring agreements with partner organizations allow the AU the right to audit them. But auditors also warned that these lingering oversight problems are a reputational issue for the organization — and could raise questions about its credibility and transparency. The organization “should uphold the highest standards of integrity, honesty, professional conduct and avoid actions incompatible with the standards and conduct of the AU,” the audit said.