Update: Former Health Minister Muchima says ZAMMSA problems pre-date the UPND government

Former Health Minister Dr Elijah Muchima has said the problems at the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) started long before the UPND government took office. Speaking in an interview on Saturday, Dr Muchima said a private independent auditor had gone into the agency and produced a forensic report that had "all the nitty gritty in it". He said the report was being investigated while he was still minister and was later passed on to the investigative wings. He called for everyone involved in wrongdoing at ZAMMSA to be held accountable and made to answer for their actions. His comments came a day after Health Minister Prof Roma Chilengi told Parliament on Friday that ZAMMSA contracts worth K16.1 million had been awarded to a supplier that was not registered. What ZAMMSA does ZAMMSA is the government agency that buys, stores and delivers medicines and medical supplies to public hospitals and clinics across the country. When it fails, the shortage shows up at the clinic counter, where patients are told a drug is out of stock and sent to buy it from a private chemist, often at a price many families cannot afford. Why it matters The ZAMMSA scandal is now turning into an argument over who is to blame and how far back the problems go. That question matters for the investigation itself. If the wrongdoing started before 2021, investigators will have to look at more years of contracts and at the people who were in charge then, as well as those named in Prof Chilengi's statement. For patients, the issue is simpler. Every kwacha paid to a supplier that cannot deliver is money that did not buy medicine for a public clinic. What happens next Dr Muchima said the forensic report is now with the investigative wings, and Prof Chilengi's statement has put the K16.1 million in contracts on the parliamentary record. Both are likely to be at the centre of any case that follows.