Image: COURTESY
President William Ruto has sacked Health PS Josephine Mburu and the whole of the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency board.
Ruto on Sunday pledged to take bold action following allegations of an alleged scandal regarding the supply of mosquito nets.
At the same time, Ruto has appointed Irungu Nyakera as the chairperson of the KEMSA board.
Health CS Susan Nakhumicha has on her part reconstituted the board and appointed new members.
The new members include Hezborn Oyieko Omollo, Bernard Kipkirui Better, Jane Masiga and Jane Nyagaturi Mbatia.
Nakhumicha has at the same time kicked out Kemsa CEO Terry Ramadhani and appointed Andrew Mutava Mulwa as the new acting ceo.
Speaking during a round table with journalists at State House on Sunday, Ruto without revealing more details said he had started looking at the problems in Kemsa
"I am doing something about it. You will see results. I want to give you my commitment, I will clean up KEMSA, whatever it takes, whatever it costs," he said.
Kemsa has continued to make headlines over corruption and mismanagement.
The first saga was about some Sh7 billion intended to buy personal protective equipment (PPE) and other essential health facilities at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic and ended up in the pockets of a few well-connected individuals.
It produced the corrupt people who were referred to as ‘Covid Millionaires’.
They were accused of making money at the expense of fellow Kenyans who needed to be protected from the deadly virus.
At the moment, Kemsa is in the spotlight over the Sh3.7 billion mosquito net deal.
The country risks losing Sh3.7 billion after a bungled tender for the supply of treated mosquito nets.
The development could leave millions of low-income households at risk of contracting Malaria a deadly disease that kills an estimated 12,000 people yearly in Kenya.
The Global Fund had floated the tender that could have also seen the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) rake in a total of Sh370 million in revenue through warehousing and transport logistics.
The Global Fund has now canceled the tender over irregularities in the procurement process that the agency argues were skewed in favour of one of the bidders.
However, Kemsa defended the alleged bungled mosquito nests procurement tender.
Kemsa chief executive officer Terry Ramadhani on Wednesday said the two companies; Shobikaa Impex and Partec East Africa Ltd, were the most qualified suppliers.
The two had been pre-qualified for the Sh3.7 billion tender but were disqualified by Global Fund on grounds they had failed to meet the documentation requirements.
President Ruto during pre-elections and post, had said issues of cartels in Kemsa would be dealt with accordingly.
"We have to do a lot of work to ensure that all the work will continue. We are using technology to sort out the challenge of cartels in KEMSA. I know there are many hospitals that are run with public money and they do not do any work, it's just monkey business," he said.
