Kemri refutes claims of misusing donor funds
The Kemri Head Office in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) has refuted claims of mismanagement of funds, saying the monies were used in payment of allowances for eligible staff.
Kemri said reports questioning the spending of Sh2 billion were inaccurate and further explained that Sh1.2 billion donor funding relates to “one of our partners and the money was wired directly to the Kemri-Wellcome Trust Programme”.
“However, in capturing proceeds from donor funding, this amount was captured in the books of Kemri-Wellcome Trust not in the main books of accounts,” read a statement from the institute.
“All donor funding is audited by international audit firms appointed by the funding organisations in addition to KENAO (Kenya National Audit Office) audit. In this particular case, audit was done by KPMG.”
‘Review’
“The Board of Management has arranged to meet Wellcome Trust and Oxford University to review the MoU and funding arrangements,” reads the Kemri statement that disputes claims by a union that the donor money had been mismanaged and that donor funding was at stake. The Union of Kenya Civil Servants made the allegations through a letter addressed to Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and investigative agencies.
In the statement released to the Nation by the institute, on staff allowances, it explained that Sh473 million was released by the National Treasury after a court case and it was paid to staff who were entitled as per the judgement.
“A total of Sh473 million was released by the Treasury on July 4, 2019 and the same was disbursed as extraneous, risk and emergency call allowance to the eligible staff,” reads the statement.
It continues: “These payments were audited by KENAO. This was a one-off payment, subsequently, we have been receiving funds to pay these allowances and currently, we are paying doctors, dentists, nurses, clinical officers and laboratory technologists as supported by the current pay roll.”
“The union’s concern is that to date, the Kemri management cannot account for Sh2.28 billion. Our request for the status and whereabouts of these funds from the Kemri director-general has never been responded to,” states the union’s letter seen by the Nation.
The management, in their response, highlighted that there is a pending court case by the union against Kemri, Ministry of Health, National Treasury, and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission and that they should wait for the conclusion of the case.
Given a brief
It further indicated that a meeting to highlight the staff allowance issue was called and the members were given a brief on the said risk allowance to their satisfaction.
“It is important to state that while the management was trying to engage the relevant authorities with an intention to secure this allowance, the union took the matter to court. The matter is still in court pending determination.
On the issue of the acting Director-General/Chief Executive Officer and other positions, the statement explains that these vacancies were “caused by natural attrition as is normal in any public or private organisation”.
“Vacancies will only be filled as per the HR (human resources) instruments which are currently under review,” adds the statement.
