In a preliminary report tabled on the 30th of September 2020 to a joint Covid_19 and Senate Health Committee, by the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) has cost the country a 2.3 billion loss in the procurement of Covid_19 medical supplies .
KEMSA is said to have procured medical items at an hiked price of 6.3billion contrary to the current market prices of 4 billion.
President Uhuru Kenyatta had earlier issued a 21 day notice to government agencies to expedite investigations into the alleged theft of Covid-19 donation funds. The move by President Kenyatta came after an expose by Ntv, dubbed #Covid19Millionares.
In the report ,KEMSA is said to have been in collusion with companies without necessary qualifications to supply medical equipment. These companies were established in January and February and were wrongfully awarded multimillion tenders.
The Office of the Auditor General established that the management of KEMSA failed to obey directives and irregularly utilized Universal Health Coverage and Capital Budget to procure COVID_19 related items worth 7,632,068,588 without evidence of approval of the budget by relevant authorities.
It was established that KEMSA violated all procurement laws of the Public Procurement Act. Through a directive issued by Nancy Gathungu, the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Ethic and Anti -corruption Commissions are to further investigate the authenticity of the procurement process and collusion between KEMSA and the companies it awarded tenders to.
KEMSA has been advised to withhold any further processing of Covid19 related claims until an independent audit is done.
