Erstwhile Health principal secretary Lefu Manyokole who was this week served with a letter removing him from the ministry of health has accused the media of targeting him by consistently portraying him in a negative light.
Manyokole said this in an interview with theReporter yesterday following his unceremonious chucking from the ministry.
“On Monday when I arrived at the office I was handed a letter firing me. I took the letter and here I am – I don’t have an office; I am just sitting at home going about my business and I do not want to talk about that.
“There is actually nothing to talk about. If you want to know why I was expelled you can contact my superiors who wrote the letter, and the Prime Minister. They are in a better position to tell you why they fired me. You can put it the way you want, but what I know is that I have been fired.
“The media has been calling me and everyone takes their own perspective. No one shows interest in finding out why I was fired because as far as they are concerned, I had it coming. The truth is I was fired for doing right. My only sin was saving the ministry from corruption,” he said.
Manyokole did not want to comment on the allegations about why he was fired from the ministry, and accused this journalist of having a ‘hidden agenda’, which he did not want to be part of. “I can see that all that the media wants is to find a way to expose lies about me while I am down,” he said.
The allegations include dubious issuance of medical cannabis licenses; direct interference with tender processes for catering and demolition of Queen Elisabeth II Hospital; refusal to comply with court orders in disputes between catering companies and the ministry of health; refusal to carry out lawful instructions from the minister of health as well as comply with cabinet decisions; and refusal to cooperate with police officers in the investigation of a torched government vehicle which was assigned to him as principal secretary in 2014.
On the other hand, the minister of health Nkaku Kabi confirmed that Manyokole had been removed from the ministry and redeployed to the Prime Minister’s office.
He, however, denied allegations that Manyokole was expelled for allegedly failing to cooperate with the police in investigations into a fire that recently gutted down one of the ministry’s finance offices.
However, Kabi indicated that he expects the new principal secretary to be a communicative person – someone he will sit down with and communicate openly. “I want someone with whom we will agree to disagree, but continue to do our jobs and instead of wasting time at the expense of the patients we serve. I want someone who is willing and capable of reasoning,” he said yesterday.
