The previous taskforce was headed by President Kiir and deputized by Dr. Riek Machar. Photo| Lin Nelson | Eye Radio.

A coalition of youth organizations is demanding the High-Level Taskforce on coronavirus to present to the public its expenditure of the pandemic funds approved last month.

According to the minister of information – Michael Makuei – the council of ministers approved 8 million dollars late last month to fund the coronavirus preparedness plan.

However, the coronavirus incident manager at the ministry of health – Dr. Angok Gordon – told Eye Radio last week that the institution had not received the funds.

Speaking at a press conference in Juba this afternoon, Augustine Deng – a member of the Youth-Led- Civil Society Coalition – stressed that the public would like to know what is going on.

“For us as civil society, we are asking how much have they spent from the budget that was allocated for COVID-19 for South Sudan because up to now we still don’t have the accountability on how much money was spent,” Deng said.

“We were with the health minister last week and she said she got around 5 million and it was over. The question is where has this huge amount of money gone?”

He added they are aware part of the money was allocated for students, “but the students are still complaining.”

The Youth-Led- Civil Society Coalition comprises of 20 organizations, including South Sudan Youth for Peace and Development, Christian Agency for Peace and Development, National Youth Dialogue Platform and Community Empowerment for Rehabilitation and Development.