Firms awarded Kemsa lucrative tenders to refund cash

Firms that won Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) lucrative Covid-19 equipment tenders could be forced to return extra payments to the government.

This is after the National Assembly Public Investments Committee chaired by Mvita Meber of Parliament Abdulswamad Nasir demanded that suppliers who benefited from exaggerated prices of Covid-19 equipment should be forced to refund the excess payment within one month.

“All suppliers that may have supplied Kemsa at a price higher than the recommended prices should refund the government the excess payment within a month of such price determination,” reads the report.

Only two companies were found to have followed the law in the procurement of the Covid-19 response items while the rest used commitment letters.

“Harleys Limited and Nairobi Enterprises Limited that insisted on following the procurement law were left out in the payment,” the report reads.

Further, the lawmakers are pushing for the prosecution of top Kemsa bosses, the suspended CEO Jonah Manjari and Director of Procurement Charles Juma, Finance director Waiganjo Karanja and head of legal Ferdinand Wanyonyi.

They accuse Manjari of ignoring the advice of the director of procurement that further purchase of Covid-19 material should be suspended as there was no budget.

The committee wants the Ethic and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate former chairman Kembi Gitura, Joel Onsare and former Kemsa board members for the role they played in the award of commitment letters to three companies for the supply of Covid-19 equipment.

The committee claims Gitura and Onsare to influenced award of contracts to Wallabis Ventres Ltd and Villa Surgical Supplies and Equipment Ltd respectively.

PIC has further asked the Kenya Revenue Authority to investigate whether all the suppliers had declared and paid taxes due to the taxman.

“In the event that there are those that failed to declare and pay taxes, the KRA should commence appropriate legal actions against them,” stated the report.

Also recommended by the committee is the formation of a multi-agency team to determine the actual market price of the items procured by the agency before proceeding to recover excess monies paid.

The multi-agency team will comprise the Office of the Auditor General, Office of Attorney General, Public Procurement Regulatory Authority and the Treasury under the leadership of the Ministry of Health.

The team is to look into the procurement process of KN95 masks and surgical masks between March and July 2020.

The committee has also recommended that the goods held at Kemsa warehouses be sold to recover taxpayers’ money.