By Tata Mbunwe
Douala-based lawyer, Emmanuel Simh, has said Public Health Minister, Dr Manaouda Malachi, should shed light on an embezzlement scandal surrounding the management of COVID-19 funds, with the same promptness he used in settling the alleged baby theft saga that rocked the Douala Laquintinie Hospital this week.
Barrister Simh was shocked at how fast Minister Manaouda intervened in rescuing the hospital’s image from being tainted, meanwhile he could not rescue his Ministry from corruption and embezzlement.
His views came a day after the Minister visited Laquintinie, where he peacefully resolved a viral case of an alleged baby theft at the hospital.
At the end of the Minister’s visit on Thursday, the mother of the said baby, Bell Esther Aurelie, withdrew claims that her baby had been stolen at birth.
“We would still have liked to have had the same promptness in producing some insights into the management of Covid funds by your Ministry, following the publication of the report of the Audit Bench, from which the extract is given below. I can wait until Monday for that. I am going into retreat for the Paschal Tridium. Have we not recently been recommended prayer? I leave you my peace, Excellency Minister. And above all, be healthy,” the Barrister Simh wrote.
Last year, following multiple reports about the mismanagement of COVID-19 funds, the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court faulted the Ministry Public Health in eight areas.
Prominent among them was the disappearance of a stock of COVID-19 related medications worth 536.4 million and an over billing of 15.3 billion francs for the benefit of a company importing screening tests.
The Supreme Court also noted many “bad practices” at MINSANTE and the violation of existing protocols in medical purchases.
Over one year since this was published, the government has remained silent about holding those responsible to account.
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