(MENAFN- The Post) …as government fails to pay Covid-19
quarantine centres
MASERU -HOTELS and lodges used as Covid-19 quarantine centres could shut down after the government failed to pay them.
The owners said they have not been paid for the past six months but the government keeps giving them more people to quarantine in their facilities.
Now some say they are about to drown in massive debts and might be forced to close their doors.
They say the government has been sending them from pillar to post.
Meetings with several government and ministry officials have resulted in only promises.
The chairperson of the Lesotho Hotels and Hospitality Association (LHHA), ''Marethabile Sekhiba, said 41 facilities were in the same predicament.
Sekhiba however, could not give the exact amount of the debt.
thepost has heard that it could be as much as M30 million.
''We are incapable of paying banks and loan sharks from whom we borrowed a lot of money. We also can''t pay other businesses that provided services to us,'' Sekhiba said.
''We are unable to pay our staff who sacrificed their lives. They were not even paid risk allowances like other front liners.''
She said some of the facilities borrowed money to buy heaters and Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs).
She said the government negotiated discounts and they agreed because they wanted to help fight the pandemic.
''We are surprised that to date, there has never been any payment made,'' she said.
Sekhiba said they have been trying to engage the government for the past six months but all has been to no avail.
Initially they didn''t know which ministry was supposed to pay them.
She said former Tourism Minister Joang Molapo had made a formal order and people arrived in large numbers at different accommodation facilities.
''They arrived without orders as they were brought by the DAs in different districts,'' she said.
She said they got confirmation letters in June and received contracts in July.
''We got six months contracts starting from April and it was stated that they will make invoices on a monthly basis and be paid within fourteen days after invoice submission,'' she said.
Sekhiba said the Ministry of Health inspected their facilities and trained their staff.
Nurses and police officers were assigned to the facilities.
''Nurses have been paid by the Cabinet since then and it''s surprising that they were paid yet their places of work were not,'' she said.
They wrote to the National Covid-19 Secretariat which invited them to a meeting with the Ministry of Health and the Cabinet.
Sekhiba said the Cabinet''s principal secretary did not attend the meeting.
''We were promised the money starting from August 17 and there has been nothing to date,'' she said.
''Everyone we met promised to pay us.''
She said they met with the Accountant General, Health Minister as well as the Government Secretary.
''The GS promised to work on it,'' she said.
Sekhiba said they tried to meet the Cabinet''s principal secretary but he referred them to the Ministry of Health.
They also did not get any reply from the Prime Minister''s office.
On Monday, she said they notified the Association of Banks that they would not be able to pay their loans in October.
''We still have hope,'' she said.
She said they also wrote to the Central Bank of Lesotho and sent a copy to the Finance Minister as well as Parliament''s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman ''who promised to work on our issue.''
''Mapule Motsopa
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