Fire all erring officers in Honeybee scandal
“THE sacking of minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya by President Edgar Lungu must now send a positive and strong signal to all public Service workers who betray public trust” - Dr Mwabu
THEsacking of minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya by President Edgar Lungu must now send a positive and strong signals to all public service workers who betray public trust, says Medical Quality for Health Care in Zambia (MQHZ) director-general Dr Quince Mwabu.
Dr Mwabu has also called on President Lungu to extend the axe to the two Permanent Secretaries of Health Dr Kennedy Malama and Kakulubelwa Mulalelo and directors at ZAMRA due to their incompetency and negligence.
In an interview, Dr Mwabu said MQHZ, has welcomed the firing of Dr Chilufya from the ministry, but further called on President Lungu to fire everyone who was involved in the scandal so that they can face the law together.
Dr Mwabu said, the sacking of Dr Chilufya was long overdue as the ministry was a very sensitive institution which needed serious administrators to run its affairs.
He is hoping that, after the sacking of Dr Chilufya, harmony and confidence would be restored at the ministry.
Dr Mwabu said President Lungu’s move should be commended for taking such an action following the scandal at the ministry.
He said it was unacceptable that the two permanent secretaries had no idea on who authorised the distribution of the defective medical kits to the public.
Dr Mwabu said as an organisation that promoted quality healthcare in the country, they would not sit idle and watch people who are entrusted to run the affairs of the country disregard matters that affected the lives of the people.
Meanwhile, Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDZ) has welcomed the appointment of Dr Jonas Chanda as Minister of Health.
RDZ president Dr Isaac Sakala has commended the President for taking such a bold move to save the image of the health sector.
Dr Sakala said, while it would require more to regain the confidence of the public in the sector, this was a big step as it shows government’s commitment to its obligation to keep the Zambian people safe.
And ActionAid Zambia has called on President Edgar Lungu to also fire Ministry of Health Permanent Secretaries and their two Directors at Medical Stores Ltd and Zambia Medicines and Regulations Authority for incompetency and negligence in the honeybee scandal.
ActionAid Zambia Country Director, Nalucha Ziba said President Lungu should extend his axe to the two permanent secretaries Kennedy Malama who is in charge of technical services and Ms Kakulubelwa Mulalelo.
“We demand that all those involved in this case be equally be relieved of duties,” Ms Ziba said.
“We want to emphasize that prosecution is a major tool in the fight against corruption as it ensures that corrupt offenders are severely punished to deter would be offenders,”She said