CIVIL society have come out guns blazing against embattled Health and Child Care minister, Dr Obadiah Moyo for abusing state resources to settle personal political deals.
By Michael Gwarisa
Dr Moyo, a losing ZANU PF 2018 political candidate is in the eye of a storm following a leaked letter between him and the War Veterans leader, Victor Matemadanda where the minister is directing National Pharmaceutical Companies of Zimbabwe (NATPHARM) to release medicines into Lupane health institutions ahead of the Lupane bi-election to be held on August 3, 2019.
Speaking to HealthTimes, Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) Executive Director, Mr Itai Rusike said the recent move by the minister was unfortunate and could be a sign of gross mismanagement and lack of transparency by the minister and his cronies.
I think it’s a serious misjudgement and I think the biggest question should be, but why? Health services should be provided to every Zimbabwean and it should not happen when there is an activity like elections time because all along we have been clamoring for resources to be equitably distributed across the country.
“When we see now that during election time, all of a sudden there are resources that are now being channelled to certain constituencies, it raises issues of universal access, it raises issues of equity and it also brings out issues of accountability and transparency on how national resources are being distributed and shared. That decision is a very uniformed decision and I think it’s in bad taste, I hope something like that will never happen again,” said Mr Rusike.
He added that the general public has over the years been struggling to get access to medicines and other health essentials and several areas including Lupane were in great need of such resources.
“The general public of Zimbabwe have been struggling to access health care services and we know they are areas that are in greatest need of such resources. I also feel Lupane has been one such area that has not been really prioritised in terms of developmental issues and in terms of health for years.
“But it should not happen because there is an election and an election that may bring unfair competition because those resources will then be associated with a certain political party. The minister of health should not be seen to be behaving in a partisan manner because health is never partisan. It’s a fundamental human right that should given to every Zimbabwe.”
Mr Rusike added that he will seek audience with the minister to get clarity on the issue.
Meanwhile, Parliamentary portfolio committee on health chair, Honorable Ruth Labode said what Moyo did was abuse of tax payers’ money.
This is very unfortunate. Its vote buying using tax payers monies. As the parliamentary portfolio committee on health, I do not think we have the powers to summon him to appear over the issue. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) are outnumbered,” said Dr Labode.
