Maravi

Rupiah’s mobile hospitals

Rupiah’s mobile hospitals
By The Post
Thu 29 July 2010, 04:00 CAT

RUPIAH Banda and his friends have at last managed to get the 361 yuan US million concessional loan from the Chinese government to procure mobile hospitals. This is an unfortunate turn of events because this deal was opposed by civil society organisations, medical experts, donors and politicians among others.

Last year in April, we told the nation that the government planned to contract a US$53 million loan from EX-IM Bank of China to facilitate the acquisition of the mobile hospitals from a Chinese firm called China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC). The donors then raised concerns over the government’s plan to procure mobile hospitals and they cancelled the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Health, pending an explanation from the government.

The donors felt that even if the hospitals would be procured using a loan, the action would have wider budgetary implications and opportunity costs and they also noted that the plan was not included in the Ministry of Health 2009 action plan and it had not been discussed at the Sector Advisory Group. What followed was an explanation from then health permanent secretary Dr Velepi Mtonga that Rupiah had indicated during the official opening of the National Assembly that the government would procure mobile clinics from a friendly country to complement efforts to construct 15 hospitals in the 19 districts that did not currently have any.

In the midst of opposition from various stakeholders on the matter, Rupiah described the concept of mobile hospitals as a “damn good idea” from a friendly country. We have also not forgotten how Chinese government special representative on African affairs Guijin Liu distanced his government from the deal, saying he was not aware of the intended US$53 million deal. Ambassador Liu said he was not aware of the US$53 million about K301 billion deal, which the Zambian government intended to sign with a Chinese firm to supply nine mobile hospital units to this country.

"That equipment? I personally know nothing about that. I thought we are friends of the media here in Zambia. You are just paying attention to medical equipment. As the Chinese government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs we are totally not aware about the deal. The Chinese government did not play a role in this deal,” Ambassador Lui said.

The Ministry of Health managed to convince the donors and the MoU was signed as Rupiah’s minions continued to defend the idea. The rest as they say is history and the deal has finally been sealed.

After this episode of contradictions and half-truths on the matter, it is shocking that Rupiah had the audacity of telling people on Monday, before he left for Luena, that as the government, they had the duty to decide what is best for the Zambian people. It is very clear that there is nothing about this deal that was done in the interest of the nation. This is purely about Rupiah and his minions.

The country’s health sector is in a crisis. It is grappling with a shortage of health personnel. The few health workers in the country have poor conditions of service, a situation that last year led to a month-long strike in the sector.

Their accommodation, even just at Lusaka’s University Teaching Hospital (UTH), leaves much to be desired. There is a problem of drugs in most of our hospitals and our people in most cases are just given prescriptions to buy drugs whenever they go to seek medical attention. Our existing hospitals, save for a few that have received a facelift, need proper equipment, and a general upgrade of facilities to ensure that our people have access to proper medical care. Our hospitals and rural health centres in the country lack transport and people have to cover long distances to get to referral centres.

Not so long ago, we had pictures of a patient on a drip who had just been referred to Kitwe Central Hospital and this person had to use a public minibus because there was no ambulance at the clinic where he had been attended to. We are aware that there are plans by the government to construct hospitals and clinics in the country but as things stand now, the health sector is faced with serious challenges that require urgent attention.

One would have thought that Rupiah would think of finding ways of sorting out these problems instead of procuring mobile hospitals. If Rupiah and his minions were serious about helping or serving our people, they would have devoted their time to finding money to sort out the problems in the already existing institutions so that people have better services. If they had the interest of people at heart, they would have found ways to ensure that conditions for health workers are improved, drugs are made available and transport woes in hospitals and clinics are resolved. But we know that they are not capable of doing that.

Theirs is to serve their own interests, to feather their own nests. These are people who do not even know how it feels to wait to be attended to by a doctor for over five hours and only to be given a prescription to buy drugs. They are able to seek medical treatment even for their knees and ears at the expense of taxpayers’ money and they want to pretend that they are working for people.

One cannot even help but wonder how these so-called mobile hospitals will be able to effectively serve our people with the poor state of roads in this country. Rupiah and his minions have failed to maintain the roads and come rainy season, some areas will be cut off from the main roads.

How will their mobile hospitals reach those areas? Most people have pointed out that these hospitals are better in disaster-prone areas and they were once bought in 1991 but the project did not work. What guarantee do we have that they will work because it is the same MMD government that tried out the idea? The government has failed to maintain the few ambulances that are there in our hospitals, clinics and health centres. How will they manage to maintain these mobile hospitals?

There is need for Rupiah and his minions to look beyond giving contracts. Our people need real help. Our people need good and accessible medical facilities and not these gimmicks that they are investing in. Rupiah and his friends need to understand that they were elected to serve people and not their egos and insatiable appetite for awarding all sorts of contracts. A good leader is one that listens to the governed, one that is willing to be accountable to the people.

Transparency and accountability are two important principles that ensure the efficient functioning of any democratic society, both socially and politically. We all know that in any democracy, people transfer their power to the leaders and there has to be assurance that the delegated powers will not be abused. Where there is transparency, there is no speculation because information is readily available for people to assess what their government is doing. But looking at this deal and the contradictions that have been there, one cannot blame our people for thinking that this is a corrupt deal.

The visiting Chinese official said the mobile hospitals deal was private but today the same Chinese government has given Rupiah a loan for that purpose. At the same time, the company which is expected to supply these hospitals, CATIC, is a large scale state-owned conglomerate. There is definitely something dirty about this mobile hospitals project because no one, among the people involved, has ever come out to give a clear position on this matter. How can one trust Rupiah when he says he is acting on behalf of the people if he cannot even listen to his own technocrats in the Ministry of Health who opposed this deal?

How can our people continue to trust such a government with their resources in light of the inconsistencies, lies, contradictions and half-truths? Rupiah’s pomposity on this issue is shocking but not surprising. He is failing to understand that people are concerned because they will be left with the burden of repaying this same questionable loan he has obtained long after he is gone.

He is not concerned about the welfare of future generations and how they will repay this chain of loans that he keeps acquiring at an alarming rate as he globe trots. It is very clear that everything that Rupiah does is just about self-preservation and securing another term in office.

This defective and bunkum approach to issues is what has perpetuated under development, poverty and illiteracy among our people because the country’s leaders do not see beyond their term in office. They do not work to better the welfare of the people but to line their pockets.

Our people have seen many dubious deals cut by Rupiah and his minions in the two years that he has been in power. We have not forgotten about the issues involving RP Capital and Zamtel, the findings of the tribunal and how Dora Siliya was defended by Rupiah and George Kunda.

We have not forgotten about the procurement of the 100 hearses, the importation of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) maize, questionable contracts for supply of petroleum products in the energy sector among others. And there seems to be no sense of shame in Rupiah and his minions. Right now they might appear to be in charge and powerful, but there will come a day when they will have to answer questions from our people concerning the manner in which they are running affairs.

The current culture of lies, inconsistencies, contradictions and pomposity is a recipe for social instability and the sooner Rupiah and his minions realise that the better.

Labels: CORRUPTION, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 11:28 AM