News / National
Masca dismisses accusations of mismanagement as blatant false
01 Dec 2023 at 05:48hrs | Views
Medical Aid Society Central Africa (MASCA) has dismissed the accusations of mismanagement by sources within the organisation as false and defamatory in the process demanding a retraction for the published allegations.
This was after sources close to the goings-on who claimed to be aggrieved by the alleged happenings said three top management officials are accused of running down the company after taking charge of the Information technology system.
They said IT and others are supposed to be supporting arms, however, at MASCA, three people (names supplied) run the show.
They said since the trio came on board, MASCA has since been run like an accounting firm or rather like a tuck-shop and one of them usurped all powers and left the current Chief Executive officer a mere passenger.
Responding to the story published by Bulawayo24.com on 28 November 2023 Masca through their lawyers from Calderwood, Bryce Hendrie and Partners in a letter dated November 30, 2023 described the allegations as false.
The company said there are a number of patently false claims about Masca.
"The main allegations and the reality are as follows: three top officials Have Hijacked the Society. Masca is a member-driven Society with an active Board which oversees operations and ensures that it is managed for the benefit of the members and other stakeholders," reads the Masca response.
"The CEO is fulfilling his role, which is unchanged, and currently reports to an Executive Director who in turn reports to a Board sub-committee called Revco. Revco reports to the Board bi-weekly. Masca has had some IT challenges which are being effectively addressed by Revco in conjunction with the committed IT team."
On the claim that many workers left Masca Between January and April 2023, the lawyers said employees left Masca in the period mentioned and of these, one retired, one went overseas and the remainder moved on to other jobs.
"The ex CEO who is mentioned has returned to Masca on a temporary basis to assist the Society solve the IT challenges mentioned," reads the Masca response.
On the claim that in the last Quarter of 2022 Masca had Forex Reserves of US $3 million which were deposited at Fawcett, the lawyers noted that Masca holds sufficient liquid resources to pay for those situations which require it and no more. They added that it has never had $3 million with Fawcett.
On the report that Masca has drawn down (US) from the (Alleged $3 million) Fund (In Fawcett) to change into ZWL on the Black Market, the company noted that it has never entered into transactions as alleged.
In the claims that Masca Executives Secured Various Properties the lawyers said a check at the Deeds Office will prove that no Masca Executives have bought properties in the last 10 years and the claims were false.
In the claim that Masca changed the IT System from Smartmed to Medcare, the company said as "mentioned already, the ex CEO who developed Medcare has kindly returned to help Masca resolve the IT challenges which arose because of the migration from Medcare to Smartmed in April. The decision to implement Smartmed before it was robustly tested was ill-fated. The software developers of Smartmed experienced staff losses during development and implementation and could not complete the project leaving Masca in a difficult predicament."
The company noted that the amounts mentioned as having been paid are totally incorrect and hugely exaggerated.
"Masca has gone back on to the old Medcare system which has been a mammoth exercise because of the need to recapture data which had been loaded on to Smartmed," the company said through lawyers.
On the claims that Masca is sitting on zero reserve funds the lawyers said Masca has sufficient resources to meet all financial obligations to members, service providers and others.
They said the Society holds more than adequate reserves to continue doing so.
The company also dismissed the claims that its Chief Executive Officer, Doug Bramsen was not reachable for comment saying has not been approached by anyone seeking clarification on the issues set out in the said allegations.
Sources had said that three top management officials were being accused of running down the company after taking charge of the Information technology systems.
They claimed that Masca allegedly changed the IT system from MEDCARE to SMARTMED authored by a company called AE company and were paid about US$100 000 in cash. They also claimed that according to monthly requisitions, they were supposedly paid US$20 000 monthly but only got US$2 000 instead all which is being dismissed by the company.
This was after sources close to the goings-on who claimed to be aggrieved by the alleged happenings said three top management officials are accused of running down the company after taking charge of the Information technology system.
They said IT and others are supposed to be supporting arms, however, at MASCA, three people (names supplied) run the show.
They said since the trio came on board, MASCA has since been run like an accounting firm or rather like a tuck-shop and one of them usurped all powers and left the current Chief Executive officer a mere passenger.
Responding to the story published by Bulawayo24.com on 28 November 2023 Masca through their lawyers from Calderwood, Bryce Hendrie and Partners in a letter dated November 30, 2023 described the allegations as false.
The company said there are a number of patently false claims about Masca.
"The main allegations and the reality are as follows: three top officials Have Hijacked the Society. Masca is a member-driven Society with an active Board which oversees operations and ensures that it is managed for the benefit of the members and other stakeholders," reads the Masca response.
"The CEO is fulfilling his role, which is unchanged, and currently reports to an Executive Director who in turn reports to a Board sub-committee called Revco. Revco reports to the Board bi-weekly. Masca has had some IT challenges which are being effectively addressed by Revco in conjunction with the committed IT team."
On the claim that many workers left Masca Between January and April 2023, the lawyers said employees left Masca in the period mentioned and of these, one retired, one went overseas and the remainder moved on to other jobs.
"The ex CEO who is mentioned has returned to Masca on a temporary basis to assist the Society solve the IT challenges mentioned," reads the Masca response.
On the report that Masca has drawn down (US) from the (Alleged $3 million) Fund (In Fawcett) to change into ZWL on the Black Market, the company noted that it has never entered into transactions as alleged.
In the claims that Masca Executives Secured Various Properties the lawyers said a check at the Deeds Office will prove that no Masca Executives have bought properties in the last 10 years and the claims were false.
In the claim that Masca changed the IT System from Smartmed to Medcare, the company said as "mentioned already, the ex CEO who developed Medcare has kindly returned to help Masca resolve the IT challenges which arose because of the migration from Medcare to Smartmed in April. The decision to implement Smartmed before it was robustly tested was ill-fated. The software developers of Smartmed experienced staff losses during development and implementation and could not complete the project leaving Masca in a difficult predicament."
The company noted that the amounts mentioned as having been paid are totally incorrect and hugely exaggerated.
"Masca has gone back on to the old Medcare system which has been a mammoth exercise because of the need to recapture data which had been loaded on to Smartmed," the company said through lawyers.
On the claims that Masca is sitting on zero reserve funds the lawyers said Masca has sufficient resources to meet all financial obligations to members, service providers and others.
They said the Society holds more than adequate reserves to continue doing so.
The company also dismissed the claims that its Chief Executive Officer, Doug Bramsen was not reachable for comment saying has not been approached by anyone seeking clarification on the issues set out in the said allegations.
Sources had said that three top management officials were being accused of running down the company after taking charge of the Information technology systems.
They claimed that Masca allegedly changed the IT system from MEDCARE to SMARTMED authored by a company called AE company and were paid about US$100 000 in cash. They also claimed that according to monthly requisitions, they were supposedly paid US$20 000 monthly but only got US$2 000 instead all which is being dismissed by the company.
Source - Byo24News
