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Lloyd Gumbo in Victoria Falls—
THE government is investigating how Premier Service Medical Aid Society’s constitution was unilaterally changed to have some board members who are not appointed by ministers. Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira, told Members of Parliament attending the pre-budget seminar that the changes to the constitution took away power from government to control activities at the medical aid society that has more than 80 percent of its subscribers drawn from the civil service.
Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa also told the seminar that government had no legal right to hire or fire management at PSMAS since it was not a parastatal.
They said this in response to recommendations from the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care chaired by MDC-T legislator, Dr Ruth Labode, that government deals with the problems at PSMAS by firing both the board and management. But Minister Mupfumira said dealing with PSMAS was complicated given its board composition.
“PSMAS is a monster that I can’t really understand. I have tried to comprehend it in the last four weeks. First of all, there is a constitution, which I don’t understand how as government we would allow such a constitution because it has been tempered with. “It has been changed. Originally it was meant for civil servants and now it includes other players who appear to have more muscle than government,” said Minister Mupfumira.
She said as a result, she was unable to just interfere with the operations of the institutions though government had a genuine interest in the operations since the bulk of its subscribers were civil servants.
Minister Mupfumira said it was important for her to get submissions from PSMAS board members and management on issues affecting the medical aid society. “And I also need to get into the forensic audit which has been done and not implemented. If I am not allowed to look into those by going to ground zero, I cannot come up with proper restructuring.
“Some of you have been calling for the sacking of (Henry) Mandishona (suspended PSMAS managing director), pane zvirikuvharwa. (there is something they are trying to hide). We need to understand what crime he committed. We need to understand from the board what happened. From what we can see, vanhu vese vane madhaka ( all are not clean) and I need to be given time to understand what really is going on.
“We are trying to find a solution, our interest as a ministry in particular is because more than 80 percent of subscribers are from civil service. If we remove civil servants that organisation will collapse overnight,” Minister Mupfumira said. She said for that reason, government had a legitimate reason to investigate how the PSMAS constitution was changed.
Minister Chinamasa said there was nothing government could do about the problems at PSMAS since it was not a government department. He said government had been trying to force changes at PSMAS by withholding its contributions for civil servants. “PSMAS is owned by civil servants and under our employment relationship with civil servants, we are required to make a contribution on behalf of civil servants to PSMAS.
“So the people who compose the (PSMAS) board are chosen by the civil servants themselves. So, when things go wrong, they should not point fingers at government but should point fingers at themselves for putting wrong people into positions. “But we have no legal right to appoint people or dismiss people. We don’t have that right. It’s an organisation that is composed and owned by civil servants,” he said.
Former Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Paul Chimedza, said the Ministry of Health and Child Care as the regulator was expected to protect subscriptions from civil servants by ensuring that they were used accordingly. “Because of the alteration that was done to the constitution, government appoints three members, the Public Service Association appoints three members and the members appoint the other three members. So members can call for a meeting and correct the situation if they want.
“It’s unfair on the minister here to say go and deal with that because at law she can’t do that. She will be taken to court,” said Dr Chimedza. All has not been well at PSMAS as senior managers have been accused of looting the medical aid society while members are failing to access medical care services.
Online Reporter