Fired ZAMMSA employees can reapply for jobs – Health minister
WORKERS separated from the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) will have a chance to apply for jobs again when the agency starts recruiting under its new structure.
Health Minister Professor Roma Chilengi said the affected workers will be free to compete for the available positions, but has warned that not all the old jobs will return because Government is restructuring the agency.
All the 150 employees at ZAMMSA were separated from the Agency following a forensic audit which exposed alleged systemic breakdowns in the public medicines supply chain countrywide
A forensic audit exposed inflated procurement prices, missing stock records and alleged diversion of medicines, leading to the firing of all employees as Government restructures the agency.
However, with the recruitment looming, Prof Chilengi said the process will be open to everyone and that former ZAMMSA workers would not be automatically excluded.
“They can reapply. It will be open to the public. They can reapply,” Prof Chilengi said.
Speaking on Sunday Interview, Prof Chilengi said the separated workers would also be paid their dues in accordance with the law.
He said the separation of all workers was part of Government’s decision to reset ZAMMSA after identifying weaknesses across different levels of the institution.
Prof Chilengi, however, said the reset did not mean that every former worker was considered to have done something wrong.
“Not everyone is a bad seed,” he said.
He said Government decided to separate everyone so that the agency could be rebuilt under a new structure without having to first determine which individual workers were responsible for the problems identified.
Prof Chilengi said workers who wanted to return would have to go through the new recruitment process and compete for the available positions.
“We are restructuring. Not all the positions are coming back. It will come in a different structure,” the Minister said.
He said the aim was to ensure that the best people were selected for the available jobs and that ZAMMSA operated more efficiently.
Prof Chilengi said the decision had nothing to do with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but was instead driven by Government’s desire to improve service delivery.
“IMF has nothing to do with the decisions and the actions that we are taking. These are actions aimed at improving the service and the productivity and the efficiency of our institutions so that the public can be served better,” he explained.
According to the minister, Government had found multiple weaknesses in the system and believed the agency needed a fresh start.
Prof Chilengi said some of the issues identified involved alleged weaknesses in procurement and other systems, including possible collusion beyond the institution.
He said investigations into specific cases of suspected wrongdoing would continue separately.
ZAMMSA is one of 12 statutory bodies under the Ministry of Health that the Government was reviewing as part of efforts to improve governance and accountability in the health sector.
Seven of the 12 institutions currently do not have boards which makes putting proper governance structures one of the minister’s immediate priorities.
By George Musonda
Kalemba October 5, 2026
Seriously?