President’s letter on interdiction of Health PS
Oct 07, 2009
THE Permanent Secretary in the health ministry, Mary Nannono, was recently interdicted.<br>Below is President Yoweri Museveni’s letter that spells out the reasons for the suspension
THE Permanent Secretary in the health ministry, Mary Nannono, was recently interdicted.
Below is President Yoweri Museveni’s letter that spells out the reasons for the suspension
I am directing you to cause the interdiction of Ms. Mary Nannono, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, as well as causing her to appear before the Public Service Commission for further disciplinary action for the following reasons:-
In 2006, I gave a directive to the Ministry of Health to emboss all Government drugs so as to stop the, by now, well known theft of those drugs, which are sold in shops owned by the medical workers.
The Permanent Secretary and other bureaucrats in the Ministry of Health as well as the officials from the National Medical Stores (NMS) dismissed my directive claiming that it was not practical ‘because it would be costly’.
Later on, the new management of the NMS did extensive research and found that this was not true. It is not too costly to label our drugs; indeed, some drugs have been labelled.
I reiterated my directive in my letter to Stephen Malinga, dated April 10 2008. I am, however, informed that the letter was forwarded to the Permanent Secretary for action, but no action was taken and eventually it disappeared. Up to now the ministers in the Ministry of Health do not have a copy of that letter. I am now sending them copies of my letter.
The ministers of health and senior management officials agreed to buy drugs through NMS in bulk instead of sending money to the districts and the hospitals where it is either stolen or diverted to cater for allowances and other things.
NMS would ensure that all drugs are labelled. Drugs could also be more easily monitored because they are bought centrally. Nannono wrote to the Ministry of Finance cautioning them that a ‘political’ directive was interfering with their work.
The letter to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance did not specify the amount to be channelled through NMS. I think all this was deliberate so as to allow the present system of sending money to districts so that it is more easily stolen.
Mulago was given sh10.9b for the purchase of drugs. The management of Mulago, in their wisdom, had proposed that only sh2b should be transferred to NMS to buy drugs and that the rest should be sent direct to Mulago to buy soap, cleaning agents and pay allowances.
I will cause Inspector General of Government to investigate this position of Mulago. Why only spend sh2b on drugs and the rest of the sh10.9 is spent on soap, cleaning agents and allowances?
Anyway, our Permanent Secretary felt that even the sh2b was too much for drugs. She suggested that only sh500m should be sent to NMS. Why did she do this? By copy of this letter, to the IGG, Mulago will be investigated separately.
Recently, during the discussion of the Ministry of Health budget by the social services committee of Parliament, the Permanent Secretary gave false figures to the members of the committee.
She told them that the money for Vote 014 (MOH) was sh52b, when, in fact, the money allocated was sh70.956b. I got wind of this. I alerted the concerned people.
The committee rejected the figures. That is how they went back and revised the figures. Was this attempted theft of this money? This is unacceptable.
The Ministry of Health holds annual review meetings to assess the implementation of the health services delivery system.
The last review meeting, which was attended by the Government representatives, development partners, members of the social services committee of Parliament, key stakeholders, senior and top management officials from the Ministry of Health among others, was held between October 27 to 30, 2008.
At the end of the mission a report was made that was supposed to guide actions for this fiscal year. I have been informed that the permanent secretary refused to sign it so as to make it an authentic document.
Apparently, for a whole year, the ministry has lacked guidelines that arose out of that review meeting. Why, then, was the review meeting held?
There is a grant of 8 million Euros from France. However, this grant is dependent on a-no-objection letter from the Ministry of Health as well as the signed report of the review meeting conclusions. The Permanent Secretary has refused to provide these and the money may be withdrawn.
DANIDA is giving us money for drugs. This arrangement will end in June 2010.
The Permanent Secretary has not alerted the Government about this so that alternative funds are found. If this is true, then, it could really be deliberate sabotage on the part of the Permanent Secretary.
I, therefore, direct you to cause the interdiction of Nannono so that she appears before the public service commission. I am, however, copying this letter to the IGG and IGP for their own subsequent actions.
Below is President Yoweri Museveni’s letter that spells out the reasons for the suspension
I am directing you to cause the interdiction of Ms. Mary Nannono, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, as well as causing her to appear before the Public Service Commission for further disciplinary action for the following reasons:-
In 2006, I gave a directive to the Ministry of Health to emboss all Government drugs so as to stop the, by now, well known theft of those drugs, which are sold in shops owned by the medical workers.
The Permanent Secretary and other bureaucrats in the Ministry of Health as well as the officials from the National Medical Stores (NMS) dismissed my directive claiming that it was not practical ‘because it would be costly’.
Later on, the new management of the NMS did extensive research and found that this was not true. It is not too costly to label our drugs; indeed, some drugs have been labelled.
I reiterated my directive in my letter to Stephen Malinga, dated April 10 2008. I am, however, informed that the letter was forwarded to the Permanent Secretary for action, but no action was taken and eventually it disappeared. Up to now the ministers in the Ministry of Health do not have a copy of that letter. I am now sending them copies of my letter.
The ministers of health and senior management officials agreed to buy drugs through NMS in bulk instead of sending money to the districts and the hospitals where it is either stolen or diverted to cater for allowances and other things.
NMS would ensure that all drugs are labelled. Drugs could also be more easily monitored because they are bought centrally. Nannono wrote to the Ministry of Finance cautioning them that a ‘political’ directive was interfering with their work.
The letter to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance did not specify the amount to be channelled through NMS. I think all this was deliberate so as to allow the present system of sending money to districts so that it is more easily stolen.
Mulago was given sh10.9b for the purchase of drugs. The management of Mulago, in their wisdom, had proposed that only sh2b should be transferred to NMS to buy drugs and that the rest should be sent direct to Mulago to buy soap, cleaning agents and pay allowances.
I will cause Inspector General of Government to investigate this position of Mulago. Why only spend sh2b on drugs and the rest of the sh10.9 is spent on soap, cleaning agents and allowances?
Anyway, our Permanent Secretary felt that even the sh2b was too much for drugs. She suggested that only sh500m should be sent to NMS. Why did she do this? By copy of this letter, to the IGG, Mulago will be investigated separately.
Recently, during the discussion of the Ministry of Health budget by the social services committee of Parliament, the Permanent Secretary gave false figures to the members of the committee.
She told them that the money for Vote 014 (MOH) was sh52b, when, in fact, the money allocated was sh70.956b. I got wind of this. I alerted the concerned people.
The committee rejected the figures. That is how they went back and revised the figures. Was this attempted theft of this money? This is unacceptable.
The Ministry of Health holds annual review meetings to assess the implementation of the health services delivery system.
The last review meeting, which was attended by the Government representatives, development partners, members of the social services committee of Parliament, key stakeholders, senior and top management officials from the Ministry of Health among others, was held between October 27 to 30, 2008.
At the end of the mission a report was made that was supposed to guide actions for this fiscal year. I have been informed that the permanent secretary refused to sign it so as to make it an authentic document.
Apparently, for a whole year, the ministry has lacked guidelines that arose out of that review meeting. Why, then, was the review meeting held?
There is a grant of 8 million Euros from France. However, this grant is dependent on a-no-objection letter from the Ministry of Health as well as the signed report of the review meeting conclusions. The Permanent Secretary has refused to provide these and the money may be withdrawn.
DANIDA is giving us money for drugs. This arrangement will end in June 2010.
The Permanent Secretary has not alerted the Government about this so that alternative funds are found. If this is true, then, it could really be deliberate sabotage on the part of the Permanent Secretary.
I, therefore, direct you to cause the interdiction of Nannono so that she appears before the public service commission. I am, however, copying this letter to the IGG and IGP for their own subsequent actions.