Parly grills CMED bosses

OFFICIALS from CMED Private Limited were on Monday taken to task by members of the Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Development over the dismissal of two employees for providing information to the committee on the botched $3 million fuel deal.

The CMED lost the money after First Fuel, the company contracted to supply the fuel in 2013, failed to deliver.

The committee’s chairperson Cde Dexter Nduna asked CMED board chairperson Professor Sheunesu Mupepereki how they hoped to deal with the matter when the whistle blowers had been fired.

“There are people that came here and gave evidence on the disappearance of the $3 million, a Mr (Kipinai) Chigogo, the loss control officer and finance director Mr (Lysius) Kunaka and they went back,” said Cde Nduna.

“After a year, when your management thought Parliament had forgotten, they sacked them. So, we do want to know whether or not you are aware that your loss control officer has been sacked and your finance director has been sacked and if they have been replaced, who has replaced them?” The two former CMED workers were fired after giving evidence to the committee implicating senior managers at the organisation in the fuel scam.

“How do you expect to achieve more with such an antiquated team after removing the square plug that helped you deal with the fraud issue, by removing the evidence, by removing the people who were supposed to help you?” said Cde Nduna.

Mashonaland East Proportional Representation member Ms Muchaneta Muchenje said the matter risked being swept under the carpet.

CMED human resources director Mr Chipiwa Pasipamire tried to justify the dismissal of the two, saying they could have been affected by a staff rationalisation exercise that saw 293 losing their jobs.

Cde Nduna said there was something amiss given that Mr Kunaka had since been employed as a director in the Ministry of Sport and Recreation and could, therefore, not be qualified as excess baggage. “Are you telling us that a person who is a principal director, close to a permanent secretary is excess baggage, a non-performer at CMED?” he said.

“I will not allow you to pull wool over the committee.”

Prof Mupepereki said as a new chairperson, he had come in without any prejudice and promised to deal with the issue.

“Mr chairman, with all due respect, allow us to do our job which the committee asked us to do,” he said.

“I know the issues you are raising are sensitive, are very emotional. There are people who came to me as a new chairperson of the board and I went out of my way to accommodate them within the limits that were possible. I have done what was humanely possible and we are seized with the matter.”

CMED general manager Mr Davison Mhaka is appearing before the courts facing charges of fraud over the botched fuel deal.