The country could be courting grave danger owing to ill-prepared nature to combat Covid-19 surge in the country amid shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for the frontline workers and drugs for projected tens of thousands of patients.
The dire situation is further aggravated by inability by the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) to supply the all-important supplies to counties owing to the ongoing corruption scandal involving supply of Sh6.3billion PPEs.
All the supplies that had been delivered and are part of the investigation are still stored at Kemsa stores regarded as ‘crime scenes’.
Similarly, due to the ongoing probe by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Eacc), the government, through Kemsa cannot buy essential medical supplies due to the ongoing corruption investigations putting millions of lives at risk including that of health professionals.
Eacc officials took all the records at Kemsa and stopped payments until the case is dispensed.
Eacc forwarded the investigation file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) Nordin Haji for review and directions.
However, Haji returned the investigation file on alleged procurement irregularities to the EACC citing areas for further investigations.
“The team identified key areas that need to be sufficiently covered by way of further investigations before a final decision can be made,” Haji said.
He continued, “Having carefully analysed the report by the team and considering the requirements for a strong and successful prosecution, I have come to the conclusion that the identified areas should be covered by the EACC.”
The DPP has further instructed his prosecution team to team with EACC in order to adequately address the identified gaps.
The DPP said his office had finalised reviewing files of alleged beneficiaries of the alleged scandal at Kemsa and upon review, it emerged that the scope of the investigations was massive.
Due to paralysed procurement process and which His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a decree should be done online to enhance transparency, insiders say essential supplies for other ailments such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, epilepsy, stomach ulcers, and malaria are fast running out of stock.