By Paul Nyathi|THERE seem to be discord around the cholera crowdfund initiative amidst indications that the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) has professed ignorance over the existence of such an initiative, describing it as a fraudulent scheme.
The ministry of health says they were not aware of any crowdfund and they were not running any at moment and whoever is claiming to have partnered with them is a fraudster.
According to an online health services provision watchdog Healthtimes, the Ministry of Health’s Public Relations Officer Donald Mujiri issued a statement warning citizens and stakeholders from donating into the crowdfund allegedly launched by the new Minister Of Finance Mthuli Ncube.
“Please note that there are social media false claims which are fraudulently claiming that the Ministry of Health and Child Care has set up a crowdfund to further fight cholera. Be informed and advised that any funds going towards the cholera outbreak are officially communicated through the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Retired Major General Dr Gwinji and the Public Relations Department,” Mujiri is quoted as having said in a official statement.
Last week the Minister of Finance announced in a social media post that his Ministry had agreed with the Minister of Health to set up a crowdfund to help fight the ravaging cholera epidemic.
“Together with my colleagues at Min of Health, we have set up an auditable emergency crowdfund to further efforts to fight cholera to date. Together we can win! Min Of Finance Cholera Crowd Fund:
EcoCash Biller Code 140286; CBZ Treasury, ACC 21537300017, Selous REF: FIGHT CHOLERA,” wrote Ncube.
ZimEye.com has since established that the account number and biller code belong to the Ministry of Finance.
An official in the Ministry of Health who spoke to ZimEye.com on Monday confirmed that there was no official communication within the Ministry regarding the crowdfund.
“We have no record of the fund at all within our set up and nothing to the effect has been communicated to us. We also got to know of it through social media,” said the source.
ZimEye.com is following up the matter with the Ministries concerned and will provide more details as they become available.