Zimpapers Logo

Herald Reporters
Health and Child Care Minister David Parirenyatwa has said they are yet to negotiate a fee with an entity that has been identified to manage affairs of Premier Services Medical Aid Society in the interim following the self dissolution of its board of directors recently. Speaking to journalists during a press conference in Harare yesterday, Minister Parirenyatwa said they were waiting for Government processes which were looking into salaries and allowances for parastatals and similar entities like PSMAS.

He said the entity would not be a judicial manager and would not be paid according to judicial management rates.

“As Ministry, we would want to categorically say the interim manager is not a judicial manager and fee calculations will not be based on these formulae,” said Minister Parirenyatwa.

“Secondly, we have not yet negotiated a fee as we await Government process of looking at salaries and allowances for parastatals and similar entities into which category PSMAS falls.”

He said said following an advert for the post of PSMAS interim manager, Government received 27 responses from which nine where short listed and interviewed.

These nine were interviewed by a technical team, which then settled for the suitable entity. According to Statutory Instrument 330 of 2000 the interim manager must work for a period not exceeding 12 months and must be endorsed by PSMAS members during an Emergency General Meeting. The identified interim manager will play the role of the board of directors as well as that of the group chief executive officer. Fears were that an entity rather than an individual comes with costs, which usually is a certain percentage of the company’s revenue.

If Government would have allowed the entity to charge a percentage, it deems necessary, it would mean it walking away with about US$1 at most every month until it completes its mandate. At the moment, the role of the board of directors at PSMAS is being played by Government, while Dr Farai Muchena of Premier Service Medical Investments is acting as the group’s CEO.

The rest of the operations are being run by management. The PSMAS saga started when The Herald revealed that its top management was gobbling at least US$1 million in salaries and allowances at a time its members were struggling to access services owing to non-payment of service providers. This resulted in the ousting of the society’s board chairperson Mrs Meisie Namasasu, retirement of group CEO Dr Cuthbert Dube and the recent self dissolution of the board of directors.