Members of Parliament (MPs) have supported the reform plan drawn up by the Kenya Medical Supplies Authoritys’ board including military takeover to restructure the scandal-ridden agency.
The National Assembly Committee on Health has asked key stakeholders affiliated with Kemsa to support the board’s decision as organizational restructuring gets underway.
Committee Chairperson Sabina Chege dismissed reports that the military and related security agencies had taken over the management of Kemsa.
“We are comfortable to hear that the board is in full control. The whole issue about the military and the National Youth Service (NYS) that has been flying around we have been assured is misguided,” Chege said.
The committee said it has been assured that the reforms will be undertaken in a humane and in strict compliance with the law.
The committee asked the affected employees “to be at peace and wait for the reform process to go on” to its logical conclusion.
It asked the board to take care of the employees sent home as the entity restructures and follow the due process of the law.
“We have been briefed that this is a process that will involve a multi-agency team (MAT) and a lot of people will come in and we hope that they will handle it with a lot of humanity to make sure the transition will be smooth,” she said.
Kemsa directed all non-core staff members to work remotely for 30 days in restructuring process.
The board chairperson Chao Mwadime said the directions follows the submission of a report and recommendations to the board by the Kemsa Immediate Action Plan and Medium-Term Reforms Working Committee.
According to Mwadime, the employees will be appraised throughout the notice period.
“The release of all staff to work from home is a procedural formality to facilitate the review of the organisational structure and will be undertaken expeditiously to ensure that the staff complement is fit for purpose and within the approved staff establishment levels,” she said.
Mwadime added that Kemsa is currently grossly underperforming and largely unable to meet clients’ urgent needs, particularly the delivery of essential medicines and products to the counties, referral hospitals and programs.
