Investigations by The Zimbabwean show that the life assurance firm, Kuitira Mhuri Funeral Scheme, is owned by at least four serving senior police officers whose offices are situated in the Avenues area of Harare. The company was registered in June, this year.
According to sources, Chihuri last week addressed police officers and urged them to join the scheme.
Following his address, Kuitira Mhuri registration forms were distributed to police officers to complete in order to join the scheme. Stop order deductions would begin in November. A copy of the form given to this newspaper shows the logo of the funeral firm and requires members to fill in their force number, rank and station, among other details.
“We were addressed by the Commissioner General last week and he told us about the launch of the funeral scheme and said it was proper that every police officer should join the scheme. Of concern to us is the fact that this amounts to coercion. Right now, some senior members involved in the scheme are busy monitoring our compliance. It’s just not fair,” said one irate police officer.
According to company registration papers at the Deeds Office, the Kuitira Mhuri Funeral Scheme is owned by Assistant Commissioner James Nyakotyo, Chief Superintendent Takawira Nzombe , Blessing Dirani, Clement Munoriarwa and Albert Richard Bondi.
Further investigations established that the first four are currently employed by the ZRP, while the current position of Bondi could not be ascertained at the time of going to print.
Despite evidence at hand, senior national police spokesperson, Charity Charamba, denied any links between ZRP and Kuitira Mhuri.
“Let me point out that I learnt about Kuitira Mhuri from (you). ZRP has no connection whatsoever with the company and has not been approached by anyone from Kuitira Mhuri. All Police Officers are accorded burial by the organisation,” Charamba told The Zimbabwean.
While ZRP has internal arrangements for the burial of deceased members, the scheme has of late been dogged by logistical constraints owing to a critical shortage of transport, resulting in members joining their own schemes.
Sources within ZRP queried Chihuri’s interest in the scheme. “We wonder why the CG (Commissioner General) would like to make it mandatory for us to join the funeral scheme. What interests does he have in the company? Who exactly stands to benefit from the scheme?” asked one officer.
If all members of the 30,000-strong police force were to join the scheme, Kuitira Mhuri would rake in some $3million a month on the premium plan where a member can register three dependents.
Officers based at the Police General Headquarters and Chikurubi Support Unit are angered by the possibility that they could be forced to abandon their current funeral schemes.
“We believe one should make one’s own choice of a funeral scheme but the instructions from the Commissioner General seem to insinuate that we should dump our preferred funeral schemes,” said an officer who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Those interviewed also expressed fear that they could lose their money as the Kuitira Mhuri scheme was “not reputable and seems to be a dubious company”.
Several years ago, police members complained that they were being short-changed when they were made to join another funeral scheme, Moonlight, which failed to honour its obligations to cover funeral expenses. In some cases, bereaved members were forced to make unplanned switches to other funeral houses when they lost relatives.
Post published in: News