Financial auditors have been dispatched to the Democratic Republic of Congo to probe the expenditures of this year’s Francophone Games in Kinshasa.
The organizers made the announcement on Monday, following accusations of huge overspending.
Auditors from the International Organisation of La Francophonie (IOF), the French-speaking counterpart of the Commonwealth, have arrived in the central African nation. They are scheduled to stay for five days after arriving on Sunday, with this mission having been pre-planned prior to the controversy surrounding overspending.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) hosted the Francophone Games in Kinshasa for the first time, which took place from July 28 to August 6.
The international event held in the economically disadvantaged central African nation was largely deemed a success.
However, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Finance Minister, Nicolas Kazadi, criticized significant budget overruns on Saturday, attributing them to poor planning by the organizers and unauthorized changes to the budget.
Kazadi stated that the Games were initially projected to cost $48 million but ultimately amounted to $324 million.
Isidore Kwandja, the director of the Games’ organizing committee, countered the claims on social media, asserting that the funds had been prudently managed and expressing surprise at the reported figure of $324 million.
He mentioned that the International Organisation of La Francophonie (IOF) had sanctioned an operational budget of 66.9 million euros ($70.7 million).
Auditors arrived in the DRC on Sunday, according to a statement released by the IOF on Monday.
