| Mwakyembe: Minister disowns police report | Send to a friend |
| Monday, 20 February 2012 08:19 |
 By The Citizen ReportersDar es Salaam. Controversy surrounding the critical illness that has been troubling deputy works minister Dr Harrison Mwakyembe for a couple of months has deepened, following the move by the ministry of Health and Social Welfare to disown a police report on the subject. Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, the minister, Dr Hadji Mponda, wondered how and where the law enforcement organ had obtained a report on Dr Mwakyembe’s health status. He was reacting to remarks made by the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Robert Manumba at a media briefing session on Friday, dismissing allegations that Dr Mwakyembe had been poisoned. In an exclusive interview in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Dr Mponda stressed the sanctity of doctor-patient confidentiality, demanding that Manumba should be tasked to explain the source of the information he had made public. The minister remarked: “Ask the DCI to clarify his statement, because we have not written any report. Under normal circumstances, after a doctor makes a diagnosis, he may write a report and give it to the patient. Therefore, a report from Apollo hospital in India is with Dr Mwakyembe himself. And I have read his comments in which he has explained that diagnosis on what is troubling him is still going on.” Dr Mwakyembe was referred to Apollo hospital last year after his health deteriorated. Speaking after visiting him, the minister for East African Cooperation, Mr Samwel Sitta, said that Dr Mwakyembe was poisoned and urged law enforcers to mount investigations. But the minister for Home Affairs, Mr Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, asked Mr Sitta to provide them with evidence showing that Dr Mwakyembe was poisoned so that the Police could investigate. Mr Sitta stood by his words that Dr Mwakyembe was poisoned. The issue took a new twist last Friday when DCI Manumba told reporters that a report they had obtained from health authorities showed that Dr Mwakyembe’s illness had no connection with poisoning. A day later, Dr Mwakyembe issued a public statement reacting angrily to the Police report, accusing the Police Force of being unfair to him. Yesterday, Dr Mponda told this newpaper: “All we (Ministry of Health) did was to refer Dr Mwakyembe to India. Until now we have not received any report on his treatment; he has the report, and we can get detailed information if he brings it to us.” The minister categorically declined to explain what is ailing Dr Mwakyembe in order to clear the air, saying only the patient or his family were justified in doing so. Manumba’s comments Reacting to the move by the ministry, DCI Manumba said: “The Police Force won’t engage in a public debate on this issue; we are going to deal with this through the legal channels.” In his statement issued on Saturday, which was a source of major news stories, Dr Mwakyembe expressed dismay over how the Police Force had been handling his case, accusing it of doing so unprofessionally. ‘I am skeptical if DCI Manumba and his colleagues read a genuine report on my treatment or they have another report… I am saying this because what the DCI has said is different from what experts at Apollo established… they say there is something in the bone marrow which they have failed to distinguish so far,” said Dr Mwakyembe. Commenting on the developments, the Chadema secretary general, Dr Willibrod Slaa, said he, too, didn’t trust the Police. “I can’t talk about someone’s illness, but I don’t trust DCI Manumba’s report. I am a victim of Police investigations… I once reported on an incident of bugging in my hotel room in Dodoma, but to-date, I have not received any report on their investigations,” he said. On his part, the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) President, Bishop Yuda Thadeus Ruwa’ichi, said what is going on between the Police Force and Dr Mwakyembe shows that there is something seriously amiss. “Let us stick to the truth and do our work professionally and ethically,” he pleaded. The Jukwaa la Katiba chairman, Mr Deus Kibamba, wondered from where DCI Manumba got powers to argue with Cabinet ministers. He said only doctors who had treated Dr Mwakyembe could tell precisely what was troubling the vocal politician. “I cannot buy what Manumba has said because it doesn’t make sense,” he remarked. The Nyamagana MP, Mr Hezekiah Wenje, said the way this saga was unfolding, it was obvious that the Police Force was trying to hide something. “It shows also that the Police Force wants to mislead the public… there is a need for a report from the doctors in Apollo to be made public so that the public knows who is fooling who,” he said. The Dar es salaam Regional Sheikh, Alhaj Musa Salimu, was worried that the antagonism between the government leaders was bad , implying that the executive was not acting as one. “But I think we need to respect the investigations by the Police because it is the one charged with the responsibility of investigating crimes,” he said. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
| Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 February 2012 00:09 |
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