A day after President William Ruto sacked a Principal Secretary and suspended the board of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa), the Global Fund which is at the centre of the mosquito nets scandal yesterday reinstated the Sh12 billion tender.

The fund through its Kenya coordinating mechanism has advertised tenders worth Sh54 billion tenders to cover the fight against Malaria, HIV and Tuberculosis for the next three years.

The funds utilisation period is between July 1, 2024, to June 30 2027.

“For the past 21 years, the Global Fund has worked with partners around the world to fight HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria including strengthening health and community systems. Based on the Global Fund Board’s decision in December 2022 on the funding available for the 2023-25 allocation period, Kenya has been allocated US$392,989,068 for HIV, Tuberculosis, Malaria and building resilient and sustainable systems for health (RSSH). Kenya is also eligible for additional catalytic matching funds totaling to $15 million,”read the advertisement published in yesterday’s edition of MyGov, the government weekly advertising publication.  

President Ruto on Monday cracked the whip at the scandal-ridden agency, firing the Principal Secretary at the State Department of Public Health Dr Josephine Mburu and the entire board.

He appointed former Principal Secretary Irungu Nyakera as the new board chair, replacing the incumbent, former Keiyo South MP Daniel Rono, and reconstituted the board with Hesbon Oyieko Omolo, Bernard Kipkirui Bett, Dr Jane Masiga and Jane Nyagaturi Mbatia as the new board members.

He further appointed Dr Andrew Mutava Mulwa as the new Kemsa chief executive, replacing embattled Terry Kiunge Ramadhani who was suspended during the purge.

“The president has been briefed on the complaints of alleged impropriety within Kemsa in its management and administration of various medical programmes,” read a brief signed by Public Service Head Felix Koskei. 

“The complaints follow the regular verification of expenditure by the Global Fund with regard to the National Malaria Program that targets millions of low-income Kenyan households within our nation’s malaria endemic regions.

Treated mosquito nets

 The alleged maladministration on the part of Kemsa is with regard to the procurement of treated mosquito nets for those vulnerable households, which could have led to significant exposure to the disease and increase its severity in the endemic regions.” Those suspended alongside Ramadhani included Kemsa and Health Ministry staff—Martin Wamwea (MoH), Lenson Kariuki (MoH), Dr Pauline Duya (MoH), Livingstone Njuguna (MoH), Dr Charles Kariuki Chege (MoH), Justus Kinoti (Kemsa), Cosmas Rotich (Kemsa) and Anthony Chege (Kemsa).

The sackings came as anti-corruption detectives camped at Ramadhani’s office as they searched for documents related to the ‘Covid heist’ during which hundreds of millions of taxpayers money is believed to have been lost through irregular deals.

On Monday evening, EACC through its spokesperson Eric Ngumbi confirmed the raid at Kemsa, saying the agency had launched investigations into allegations of irregular award of Tender No GF ATM MAL NFM 2022/23 OIT-02 for the supply of long lasting insecticidal nets by Kemsa.

Covid pandemic scam echo

The investigations commenced just hours after President Ruto promised to take action into the scandal that rocked the previous administration at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when suppliers were paid millions of shillings in suspect drug transactions.

Earlier, the President had convened a meeting to discuss the crisis at Kemsa, a day after he promised to clean up the agency. The tender dispute was indeed ignited by the sacked PS who had questioned the inconsistency in specifications for long lasting insecticide treated nets.

Mburu had noted that the advertisement by Kemsa was missing some specifications when compared with the original specifications that were shared by her ministry.

“The purpose of this letter is to ask Kemsa to rectify the error and fast track the procurement process to ensure timely delivery and distribution of the nets to protect the population at risk of malaria,” read the letter by the PS. Documents in our processions show that it was Ramadhani who wrote to the ministry seeking the extension of the award of the tender a move which was opposed by the Global Fund.