27 May 2009

Samoa group says NZAid shares blame for Piango woes

3:34 pm on 27 May 2009

The National President of the Samoa Umbrella of NGOS, or SUNGO, says NZAid, needs to take some responsibility for mismanagement issues at the regional organisation.

New Zealand's aid agency, NZAid, was a year into a three-year commitment to provide core funding of just over 700,000 US dollars a year, but ended the funding after an audit revealed mismanagement issues.

Vaasiliifiti Jackson says NZAid could have avoided this situation if it had kept a better eye on its money.

"I am not surprised except very disappointed and shocked at the fact that New Zealand did not see to the monitoring and evealuation. There was no monitoring system. Of course, the fault is Piango but the funding agency should also see their money [is] properly ustilised. It could have been avoided, because it was over a year."

Vaasiliifiti Jackson says something will need to be done to replace Piango.