A parliamentary debate over what Members of Parliament described as the Government’s rejection of a US$365 million United States health funding package turned heated on Wednesday last week, with legislators demanding to know how Zimbabwe will sustain HIV treatment and other health programmes amid funding constraints.

The issue arose after Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care Sleiman Kwidini responded to questions on healthcare financing, prompting Corban Madzivanyika to challenge the Government’s handling of the US funding offer.

“We have heard of the grievances that have been alluded by the Hon. Minister that there is an outcry by our citizens about out-of-pocket expenses. This shows that the Government does not have enough funds to support the health department,” Madzivanyika said.

He continued:

“The Government of Zimbabwe rejected USD365 million from the American Government. I am saying, why did we reject those funds when we are still struggling on issues to do with health?”

The question immediately sparked exchanges across the House.

The Temporary Speaker called Members to order before addressing Madzivanyika’s remarks.

“Order! Order!… Firstly, what you have said is not true, for you to say that the Government is failing – the Government never failed. The Government is trying its best.”

As the debate intensified, Blessing Ropafadzo Makumire rose on a point of privilege, arguing that the Chair should allow the minister to answer the question.

“You cannot perform two functions; you cannot be the Minister and also be the Hon. Speaker at the same time. Allow the Hon. Minister to respond,” Makumire said.

The Temporary Speaker rejected the intervention.

“You cannot tell me what to do. Take your seat… Allow him to respond,” the Speaker ruled.

The Speaker also cautioned Members over the language used during debate.

“We must not say wrong things because we are seeing cameras around us. We do not allow that,” the Temporary Speaker said before proceedings continued.

The discussion later returned to the funding issue when Prosper Mutseyami Mushoriwa asked how the Government intended to continue financing HIV programmes if the funding did not materialise.

“Given the fact that the Government refused the USD367 million that was coming from the USA, which money was made to deal with HIV and related illnesses, what other measures is the Government taking to ensure that we will not have a problem in terms of treating those patients with HIV and related illnesses? Where is the money going to come from, given the challenges that we face with Treasury in terms of disbursing the money to the Ministry?” Mushoriwa asked.

Responding, Kwidini said the Government had already begun making contingency plans following changes to US funding.

“Before the American declaration on cutting some funding to Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe had to cover that gap to make sure that we have enough and adequate supply of all the funded programmes,” he said.

He disputed suggestions that Zimbabwe had outright rejected the funding.

“It was not refused per se but some discussions were supposed to be held to meet the agreements so that each party would be on the same page, especially on that particular financing model,” Kwidini said.

He added that the ministry had prioritised medicines while Treasury worked to close the funding gap.

“The Ministry was already ahead of prioritising what is needed to make sure that we are not going to have shortfalls in terms of these medicines,” he said.

Unsatisfied with the response, Madzivanyika raised a point of order, arguing that the minister’s explanation differed from public statements made by the United States.

“The Hon. Minister said that they did not reject the money… They are saying there are modalities in place to ensure that the Memorandum of Understanding is agreed to but as of now, the United States Government has actually indicated that it is winding up any further supplies of health support to the Government of Zimbabwe as a result of this failure of the MOU,” he said.

He urged the Government to clarify its position.

“The Hon. Minister must clarify to this House that we know the correct position because some of us read from the positions of the U.S. Government, also from the positions of Zimbabwe. There is no alignment, yet our people are suffering,” Madzivanyika said.

Acting Leader of Government Business Torerayi Moyo then requested that the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Zhemu Soda, explain the Government’s position.

Responding, Dr. Soda said Zimbabwe’s concerns centred on conditions attached to the proposed funding.

“There were some conditions which we did not like attached to the offer,” he said.

“One of the conditions was that we were supposed to provide biological samples for research that was supposed to be undertaken in America. We were also supposed to provide biological data of some people here in Zimbabwe.”

Dr. Soda said Zimbabwe had also been informed that vaccines resulting from the research would not be made available to the country.

“As much as we required the money, we could not do that at the expense of the citizens of Zimbabwe,” he said.

He added that the Government remained open to discussions if the conditions changed.

“If we are to resume the discussions, these conditions must be removed first.”