THE Office of the President and Cabinet will investigate remunerations of parastatal bosses to try and bring sanity to the current situation where most earn unbelievably exorbitant salaries, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said.
BY VENERANDA LANGA SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER He was responding to questions by MPs in the House of Assembly who wanted to know measures government would take to deal with corruption currently pervading the country.
MPs’ questions came in light of hefty CEO salaries recently exposed by the media at PSMAS, ZBC and other parastatals including Harare City Council.
“An exercise has started through the office of the President and Cabinet to investigate the remuneration given to all parastatals,” Chinamasa said.
“When that exercise is complete we will be able to formulate what to do with those who have been paying themselves above reasonable levels of remuneration.”
Zanu PF MP Temba Mliswa demanded to know from Health minister David Parirenyatwa why to date the whole PSMAS board had not been fired. This was after Parirenyatwa had told Parliament that his ministry was in the process of investigating the issue.
“You met the board, minister, and their role is an oversight one. The CEO was fired or retired, but you left the board which authorised those salaries.
“You cannot say you have killed the sheriff when you did not kill the deputy. What confidence do we have that the same board will not give themselves $500 000 salaries?” Mliswa queried.
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Parirenyatwa admitted that there was chaos at PSMAS and hinted the board will be changed.
“It is true that the board fired the CEO, but that is their in-house step. We, as government, will come up with what direction to take and we will be taking a direction that will satisfy Zimbabweans who contributed to the medical aid. We have not yet acted, but are investigating and we will give a comprehensive report,” Parirenyatwa said.
Zanu PF MP Irene Zindi asked Parirenyatwa if he appended his signature to the salary schedule.
“In September, we looked at issues of medical aid societies including areas where there is conflict of interest within their own industry and the government is looking at salaries to come up with a position which will be revealed to the public,” Parirenyatwa said.
