Governors yesterday admitted that they blindly signed a deal that gave the national government authority to lease medical equipment to be used in the implementation of the Social Health Insurance Fund on behalf of county governments.

At a meeting between the Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) and the Council of Governors (CoG), the latter’s Vice Chairperson Kahiga Mutahi admitted that the county bosses knew nothing about the Intergovernmental Participation Agreement (IPA) they were entering into with the national government.

Kahiga further admitted that the CoG had been advised not to enter the agreement but still went ahead to do so.

He told the committee that so far, 34 county governments have signed the deal although they have no idea what companies the devolved units will be procuring the equipment from or how they were procured.

He said: “We had no option but to sign the deal because there is nothing we could do. We were told as governors that this was not the best option but we had no other option. We did not procure the machines, it is the ministry of health that did the procurement, they even put the advertisement in the newspapers, we were not involved.”

“What they have done is to set 23 lots of equipment, so you pick a lot that you think is required for your specific hospital, after picking it is when you know the providers, but whoever selected them, that was a program decided by the national government, we are just landlords.”

The CPAC, chaired by Homabay senator Otieno Kajwang said it was unfortunate that the deal which is shrouded in secrecy was pushed down the governors’ throats to the extent that they allowed the national government t to procure the medical equipment on behalf of county governments.

Extravagant governors

Said Kajwang: “It is unfortunate that we are fighting for more resources but you as governors became extravagant. Even if as MPs we passed the law in parliament there is nowhere where it was written that you flout the procurement laws,” said Kajwang’. “Don’t be defensive, because we want to assign the problem to the right level, we want to tell the ministry, you can’t procure for county governments, that you can’t do business with people’s health and people’s lives.”

Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo said that the current deal mirrors the mess that was witnessed in the leasing of Managed Equipment Services (MES).

She said: “It looks like this is one of the MES projects. It is interesting that on this one you agreed to sign a deal with the national government that you do not know and now you look more confused.”

Tharaka Nithi senator Julius Gataya accused the county bosses of being out of touch with the goings-on in their own counties. “I am concerned that COG is not informed about what is going on in counties in terms of the equipment being provided to them.”

Busia senator Okiya Omtata on his part sought to know whether the governors acted in the best interests of Kenyans who are the consumers of their services. “What law are you using to sign the contract, did you consult your attorney before signing?”

The questions by the senators after Kahiga admitted that as governors they signed for the deal despite them being advised not to. Kahiga, while admitting that the process was rushed and risk collapsing midway, said they made the decision to sign the deal in good faith as they wanted to ensure that patients in counties continue getting medical services.