VP Hussein Abdelbagi Akol, the Chairman of the National Task Force on Coronavirus- May 27, 2021 - courtesy

The public have been thrown into confusion as the Office of the Vice President for Service Cluster, the taskforce, and private Covid testing Laboratories lock horns over the six dollars charges.

This came after the Executive Director in the Office of the Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi issued directives contrary to the taskforce communiqué.

Last week, the national taskforce on coronavirus directed private labs to suspend the payment of the six dollars charges.

This is to allow the reconstituted committee to investigate the genesis of that payment.

“The taskforce directs the Labs to suspend the payment of the six dollars charges. Therefore, the reconstituted committee is tasked to investigate the genesis of that payment,” stated the statement.

Dr. Ajak Makur, the chairman of the reconstituted committee wrote on his social media page that his committee has been authorized to investigate the genesis of the payment of the six dollars charges.

He points out that the committee is ready to get to the bottom of the matter.

“Don’t confuse the public Mr. ED; By the way; NTF is not a person, not even the VP; we represent government institutions and you are not a member of the NTF and I wonder where on earth did you get this courage to contradict the NTF!!!#Compare the 100 communique with your interference letter,” Dr. Ajak wrote on his Facebook page.

“FYI; there is an ongoing public investigation that may end up in the parliament, so do not interfere in the process. #The destiny of six USD per each person from 8 PCR labs for a period of almost four months should be ascertained.”

In the statement, the Executive Director in the Office of the Vice President for Service Cluster, Garang Deng directed all private laboratories to continue using Unified E-governance Covid-19 certificates.

Thus, private laboratories will be forced to continue paying the six dollars charges to obtain a unified E-governance certificate.

According to one of the private labs, the unified system can’t work without paying the six dollars charges.

“The national taskforce on coronavirus pandemic hereby notifies all the operating and authorized Covid-19 laboratories that the Covid-19 E-governance certificate is still valid and is still the only certificate recognized at the International airport and all the national borders,” the statement said.

“Please take note that the six dollar charges have been suspended until due diligence is finalized by the taskforce.”

Meanwhile, Crawford laboratory has threatened to withhold Covid-19 results, if other laboratories failed to pay six dollars charges.

Crawford is the only laboratory authorized by the government to operate the E-government system.

One of the Labs, that declined to be identified, has disclosed to Eye Radio that Crawford laboratory is still demanding the six dollars charges despite government directives.

“We received this letter from the office manager of H.E the Vice President telling us to use the E-government system but we can’t use the system without paying the $6 dollars charges. So this is very tricky,” the statement said.

“Yesterday, we were visited by the committee formed by the taskforce and the H.E the Vice President directed us to stop paying $6 dollars, and stop using the E-governance system.

“We don’t know what to do and who to listen to, we just pray our clients will not face inconvenience tomorrow [Friday] at the airport as this came in a short notice. We tried to issue unified results but the E-governance system didn’t allow us because of the payment of $6 dollars.”

In a statement extended to Eye Radio, Crawford wrote to its clients and threatened not to release any Covid-19 test results.

“You have to comply with our rules to access the E- governance. We cannot allow you to issue the unified certificate without payment, adding to that, you have to clear your outstanding amount before we unlock your account,” the statement stated.

“The system cannot run without the $6 dollars. It is our service charge which we agreed with the government, the documents you sent us are just notifications and not directives mentioned to our management. So please comply or all your travelers’ results will not be sent back tomorrow.

“We didn’t receive directives from the taskforce to stop the $6 dollars payment. Those letters are public notifications, either you pay the $6 USD or your results will not pass from the airport as this $6 USD is the maintenance fees.”