A Papua New Guinea transparency group wants the government to reveal more information on how the Covid-19 solution is funded.
With over 10,000 cases and 100 deaths, Papua New Guinea has become the Pacific nation worst affected by the pandemic, but the real tally is estimated to be much higher due to poor testing speeds.
At this time, there have been several allegations of misappropriation in the government's response to the pandemic, including contracts being given to government employees that have a potential conflict of interest.
"Clearly this is not acceptable," said the director of Transparency International PNG, Peter Aitsi.
Government authorities have failed to get the public to listen to demands for social distancing and other health initiatives as the pandemic continues to grip PNG.
According to Aitsi, the citizens of the country have no confidence in the government, and work must be done to rebuild trust in institutions.
"There is an underlying suspicion and uncertainty around Covid and the impacts of Covid and also the treatment of Covid," Aitsi said.
"In this type of environment, I think it's incumbent on all of us to try and build public confidence in everything related to this pandemic so that people can have faith in the processes that are put in place to respond to Covid."
To regain public confidence, Aitsi suggested that the government disclose all information on support for the Covid-19 response, including summaries of international contributions and grants to provincial health authorities.
