Musician Patience Namadingo has accused management of Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) of plotting to loot the K15 million which he raised for a cancer ward at the hospital.
Namadingo has made the claims in a Facebook Live on his page.
The musician, in 2017, conducted a 40-day campaign in which he performed in offices of small and big companies with each person watching the performance paying K3000.
The musician wanted to raise K1.2 million to assist patients in the children’s cancer ward at QECH. However, at the end of the campaign, Namadingo announced that he had raised K15 million, some of which was cash in hand and other amounts were kept by the companies.
According to Namadingo, after the money hit K15 million, the hospital told him not to buy the items for the children but to give cash to the hospital.
He added that director at the time and other hospital managers told Namadingo that they wanted to use the money to contribute towards the construction of a High Dependency Unit (HDU) at the hospital.
However, Namadingo objected the proposal and insisted that he should at least be allowed to spend K1.2 million for the children at the cancer ward.
The hospital agreed and a cheque presentation ceremony with hospital officials was held at QECH. After the event, Namadingo bought groceries and handed them over to the ward.
The rest of the money was supposed to go towards the contribution of the HDU and Namadingo told the hospital that the money would stay with the companies that pledged the funds and would only be released every time there was a need to purchase items for the project.
According to Namadingo, years later, while the HDU was under construction with the hospital’s funds, the hospital contacted him to release the donated funds so that they should be used for installing tiles at the HDU.
Namadingo said he was convinced and was ready to release the funds until he was told that another company had already pledged to complete the construction of the HDU, including installing the tiles.
“This raised questions and I told the hospital director at the time that I was not convinced that the money would be used for the intended purpose. The director got angry and he told me that I should never go to QECH to donate anything,” said Namadingo.
The musician has insisted that the money is yet to be collected from companies such as TNM where he raised K2.7 million as well as Malawi Law Society, Anti-Corruption Bureau and some banks.
“I believe that the companies that pledged to give the money will give the money and I believe that this will speed up the process so that the funds should be used for intended,” said Namadingo.
Namadingo’s response comes after the Sunday Times published a story in which QECH and Ministry of Health officials said they did not receive any money from Namadingo.
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