Conclude Kemsa probe

Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) is back in the news for all the wrong reasons. An audit by the Global Fund established that 908,000 mosquito nets, 1.1 million condoms and Sh10 million tuberculosis (TB) medicines disappeared from the agency’s warehouse.

The medical supplies are believed to have been stolen and resold on the black market, especially to private chemists. The fund also questioned suspect demands for payments totalling Sh1.66 billion by phantom suppliers.

This is unacceptable, especially coming hot on the heels of another scam in which Kemsa lost billions of shillings in dodgy purchases of Covid-19 personal protection equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers and hospitals. That shows there is no goodwill to end graft at Kemsa despite assurances by the state. 

Following the earlier scandal, in 2020, President Kenyatta ordered an overhaul of the Kemsa board with Mary Chao Mwadime taking over from Kembi Gitura as chairperson. She was joined by new faces, including Lawrence Wahome, Linton Kinyua, Terry Ramadhani and Robert Nyarango. The team embarked on a much-hyped restructuring that saw hundreds of staffers suspended in a graft purge.

Despite that, the crooks shamefully continue to plunder resources meant to save the lives of millions of poor Kenyans.

Multiple audits by development partners have flagged loopholes in Kemsa’s procurement systems but the government doesn’t seem ready to do the difficult job. It must now act decisively and overhaul procurement systems at the authority to limit human interactions that fan graft. 

Kemsa is a critical part of the national healthcare system and should not be left at the mercy of a few crooks who don’t respect their civic duty. Bold reforms in the procurement systems and vetting of staff could help to cure the cancer of graft.