Ex-Kemsa CEO Jonah Manjari among shortlisted candidates for Kiambu County Chief Officers’ posts
The sacked former Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) Chief Executive Officer (CEO ) Jonah Manjari Mwangi is among tens of candidates shortlisted for the Kiambu County Chief Officers’ posts.
Manjari is set to face the County Public Service board on February 28, 2023 at 2pm for interview for the position of County Chief Officer, Service Delivery.
Other shortlisted candidates on the post of service delivery are Mwangi Kennedy Kamau, Charles Mwangi Nga’nga, Philip Mubea Mwangi, Julie Njeru Waweru and Grace Laton Turanta.
During his turbulent tenure at the helm Kemsa leadership, the authority faced multiple mega procurement scandals key among them the Sh8.3billion COVID-19 contracts heist that shocked the country in 2020.
An audit report by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu exposed procurement and financial irregularities that exposed more than Sh100billion of donor funds and taxpayers’ money to possible looting.
A senate report in the same year blamed Manjari for having presided over the massive looting.
Other officers who were probed by the Senate Health Committee included; Charles E. Juma (Procurement Director) Eliud Mureithi (Commercial Services Director) Fredrick Wanyonyi (Corporation Secretary/ Director Legal Service) Edward Njoroge (Operations Director) and Waiganjo Karanja (Finance and Strategy Director).
A probe by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) revealed that KEMSA officials flouted procurement procedures by direct sourcing and awarding a Sh7.7 billion tender to a company known as Kilig Limited under the cover of emergency needs, despite the fact that they were given three months to supply as opposed to one month.
Other companies with less than six months in operation received tenders without credible financial records being presented.
The Senate Health Committee said Kemsa and the CEO awarded tenders to non-prequalified firms without carrying out due diligence to determine the companies’ ability to supply the items.
The mentioned firms were Shop ‘N’ Buy, which was awarded a Sh970million tender for supply of KN95 face masks and PPE.
Also named were Kilig Limited, Regal Freighters Limited, Trade Soft Limited, Nel Limited, Aszure Commercial Services Limited, Trade Soft Limited, Nanopay Limited and Zebra Investment Limited.
Others were Tikasan Holdings Co Limited, Bennetts Ventures Limited, Hamethyst Limited, Ohiyo Company Limited and Briema Grains Stores Limited.
According to the committee report, Kemsa did not conduct needs assessment leading to overdrive procurements.
The report blamed Manjari for setting aside advice by the director of procurement Charles Juma to stop issuing commitment letters, in the retrospective, as they had exceeded Kemsa’s budget.
