USAID reports Rashid Mahiya the Crisis Coalition Zimbabwe leader, to ZACC and police for theft of $2,6 million
Crisis Coalition Zimbabwe boss, Rashid Mahiya
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a US government department responsible for administering overseas aid in Zimbabwe, has lodged a report against the Crisis Coalition Zimbabwe to both the Zimbabwe Republic Police and to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission.
This follows a forensic audit into funds given to the NGO that were meant for the voter mobilization exercise ahead of the 2023 elections. The audit report unearthed that a staggering USD$2,6 million could not be accounted for.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition is a conglomeration of more than 80 civil society organizations in Zimbabwe working for democratic change. The Coalition works on human rights issues, democratic governance, political freedom, women’s rights, electoral reform, and constitutional reform.
The damning audit report has implicated Rashid Mahiya. Initially, Mahiya was asked to refund the misappropriated funds but could not deliver.
Indications are that Crisis Coalition Zimbabwe, acting upon Mahiya’s durectives, wantonly abused the funds and failed to deploy agents on the ground. Instead, fictitious reports from “bogus or ghost” field agents were submitted much to the annoyance of the USAID project management team.
After failing to secure the refund, the USAID took the unprecedented step of reporting the matter to both the Police, and to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission.
USAID, who were put under pressure by the US Foreign Office, to monitor the progress and activities of Crisis Coalition Zimbabwe on the voter registration process, requested for information for the funded activities but no proper explanation was given for the embezzled funds following the forensic audit.
It became clear from the onset that funds were misappropriated and agents were not deployed as funded. Crisis Coalition Zimbabwe failed to provide information even for work done on minimum requirements. It is at this stage that alarm was raised and a forensic audit was ordered and commissioned.
“USAID is demanding a refund for the $2,6 million stolen and wishes to pursue to its logical conclusion the theft of public(foreign) funds,” the source at USAID Zimbabwe revealed.
“We have precedence, wherever public funds are stolen we demand a refund and pursue the legal route to recover the stolen funds.” He added
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