Amupanda cries foul over ‘malaria medicine scam’
Affirmative Repositioning (AR) leader Job Amupanda has accused the health ministry of overpaying for malaria tablets through a middleman in a questionable procurement deal.
He says Ministry of Health and Social Services officials and middlemen are profiteering from government medical procurements.
In a social media post on Sunday, Amupanda claimed his investigation team, ‘Eagle 25’, intercepted a consignment of malaria tablets last week, which entered Namibia through the Ngoma border post.
He claimed the government paid N$1 500 per pack of 100 tablets, totalling N$450 000 for 300 packs, while the supplier’s invoice indicated a price of only N$580 per pack.
“The middlemen only paid N$175 000 in total, and they made a clean N$275 000 from this single product,” Amupanda said, and added that even if transportation costs were factored in at N$50 000, the middlemen would still have pocketed N$225 000.
He further claimed the specific tablets procured were no longer recommended due to adverse side effects, but were still being bought using public funds.
“This is how rallies of the corrupt are funded. This is how pockets are lubricated,” he wrote.
Amupanda did not disclose the names of those allegedly involved in the procurement or provide details on whether the purchase order was issued by the health ministry or another agency.
The Namibian could not independently verify the documents cited by Amupanda at the time of going to print.
Executive director of health and social services Penda Ithindi did not respond to calls or messages yesterday.
Amupanda has called for accountability and transparency in the government’s procurement process and said he expects officials involved to “start explaining”.
According to health ministry spokesperson Walters Kamaya, the ministry is working on addressing the allegations.
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