Where has all the Covid money gone?

The National Letters

I HAVE now come to believe that the money borrowed in the name of fighting the Coronavirus (Covid-19) in PNG has been misused.
I have been checking daily updates on the PNG Covid-19 webpage (PNG | COVID 19 (info.gov.pg) and it is funny to see the reports are two days or three days old and not updated and, in some cases, four days late.
Also, figures such as the number of vaccination, deaths, Delta variant stats, etc, have not been updated in months.
Not only that, I even sent a couple of emails to request information to board a flight from Singapore to Port Moresby and I have not heard back from the National Control Centre (NCC).
I am wondering whether the people supposed to be monitoring and updating these Covid-19-related statistics are doing their jobs.
My worst fear is that when I turn up at the Jackson Airport, I will be surprised by airport officials who will ask for Covid tests, an expensive hotel quarantine or be denied entry. I say this because I am uncertain at the moment and I do not know if I am safe to travel back to my home country even when I am fully vaccinated.
I hear people complaining about beds in isolation wards, nurses complaining about shortages of basic PPEs (personal protective equipment), shortage of oxygen, doctors and nurses working extra shifts and are now going into strike and the list goes on.
This only adds to the many chaos that the country is facing because of unaccounted Covid-19 funds misused or diverted elsewhere or put to personal uses or given as contracts to wantoks etc and the list goes on.
In PNG, the misuse of public funds is not new – whether it be diverted for other work or for personal use.
I am so embarrassed to be from a country that is so corrupt when it comes to the use of public funds that are meant for development and services to the community.
So my question to the Pandemic Controller, David Manning, where has the Covid-19 money been spent? My question to Prime Minister James Marape is, did you spend the huge Covid-19 loan on the pandemic?
If not, where did you spend it?
Also, can we have an audit report on the Covid-19 money?
And to the NCC, please update your website daily!

George K
Observing from Abroad