Director of Health Services Dr Malebogo Kebabonye has become the latest casualty in a long-standing tussle between top civil servants and the Covid-19 Presidential Task Force.
Dr Kebabonye was sacked last week following contradictions on an alleged cabinet decision to have executive government officials and their spouses prioritised for Covid-19 vaccination. In a leaked internal memo the Director had ordered District Health Management Team (DHMT) Coordinators to start preparations for the roll out of the vaccination in accordance with a Cabinet resolution.
“As per cabinet sitting of 30 June 2021, a decision has been reached to extend COVID-19 vaccine to the country leadership in the effort to ensure continuity of governance,” she wrote.
For those who have been following closely Covid-19 related activities around the government enclave, Kebabonye’s fate was written the moment Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health & Wellness Grace Muzila released a press statement distancing her Ministry from the directive.
“The Ministry wishes to state for the record, that it has not received any Cabinet directive to that effect. The Ministry is continuing to implement the National vaccine Deployment Plan as approved by Cabinet. Therefore, the said internal communication is withdrawn with immediate effect,” Muzila wrote.
Dr Kebabonye received a letter from acting Permanent Secretary to the President Emma Peloetletse a few days later instructing her to “show cause” why she should not be relieved of her duties. Hardly a week later and Dr Kebabonye has been replaced. The Telegraph has however been reliably informed the internal memo only served to provide the perfect weapon to sack the Director following several clashes with the Presidential Task Force.
Relations with the Task Force have come to define the terms of office for top officials within the government enclave particularly those under the strategic ministries of Health and Finance.
While Dr Kebabone’s crimes have not yet been clearly explained The Telegraph is informed the Director found herself at loggerheads with the Task Force regarding key decisions on numerous occasions.
A source has told this publication the decision to prioritise ministers and other senior officials in government including the judiciary was never agreed by cabinet but rather a product of the Director’s own imagination.
The elitist vaccination plan sought to use hierarchy to discriminate against the rest of the nation. The current criteria for vaccination emphasises age as opposed to positions of power.
The recent ban on alcohol sale has also been cited as one of the Director’s blunders, but not so much the injunction as the wrong date displayed on the initial statutory instrument announcing the prohibition which bore a 2020 date.
The Telegraph has been informed clashes immerged again this week over the replacement of the Director of Health Services. Three suggestions for the replacement of Dr Kebabonye were reportedly offered by the Ministry of Health but were all rejected. Instead, it is the Task Force choice of Pamela Smith-Lawrence who has been appointed Acting Director. Dr Kebabonye is the second Director of Health Services to fall victim to the tug of war between the Task Force and technocrats following the sacking of Dr Malaki Tshipayagae.
Resignations and sacking of top civil servants over clashes with the Task Force have come to define the rocky relationship between the two camps. This is despite the defined roles between them with the Task Force largely being tasked with providing strategic direction while the Ministry of health is responsible for operations.
One of the major subjects of contention currently is the extension of the State of Public Emergency (SOE) which decision, this publication has been informed, enjoys the full support of the Task Force.
Some within government also feel it is about time the Task Force handed the baton for the fight against Covid-19 back to the Ministry of Health, consequently rendering the Task Force obsolete. Contracts for the Coordinators of the Task Force were extended for another year recently.
