The Public Investments Committee (PIC) has put Health Ministry on the spot over the Kenya Medical Supply Authority(Kemsa) scandal since it was represented in the board.
Appearing before the committee on behalf of the Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, Principal Secretary Susan Mochache confirmed that the ministry was represented in all the meetings by the board.
“We normally have a representative in the board and we are fully briefed on matters deliberated therein,” she said.
However, she said the ministry was not involved and that it only gives guidance on
policy matters.
Members of the committee, chaired by Mvita Member of Parliament Abdulswamad Nassir, heard that masks and other Covid-19 equipment worth over Sh7 billion are still lying at Kemsa stores.
The committee understood that this is because the Cabinet, chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta, was yet to approve the disposal of the items that were procured exorbitantly by Kemsa.
Mochache told the committee that the items were still with Kemsa, more than a year since they were procured for the fight against the pandemic that is entering its fourth wave.
Defending the ministry, Mochache said that they sought Cabinet approval in November 2020 to allow Kemsa to sell the Covid-19 commodities at prevailing market prices for immediate distribution to counties and national referral hospitals.
“The Ministry was guided to to liaise with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission(EACC) that was already probing the alleged loss of taxpayers’ money. The ministry and Kemsa engaged the EACC, which provided conditional clearance to Kemsa to proceed and deal with the commodities, including undertaking a stock audit and preparing an inventory of PPEs, while retaining a reasonable amount of samples of each item supplied by various suppliers in consultation with investigators and furnish the commission with a copy of the inventory,” she said.
Tinderet MP Julius Melly said that the committee expected the ministry to give them details of what the Cabinet was discussing on that matter.
“You should go back and bring details of what is supposed to be disposed of and how much the government is losing,” he said.
On irregular procurement, the ministry defended itself saying it was not involved.
Mochache said the agency kept the ministry in the dark on tenders it processed using own capital saying that other procurement by Kemsa through its capital funds were under the oversight of the board of directors.
The committee accused Kagwe of frustrating their efforts to complete the probe on the Sh7.8 billion Kemsa scandal.
“This follows the Cabinet Secretary’s continued failure to show up for the panel’s inquiry into what is believed was an audacious theft,” said the committee.
Lawmakers protested that they have three times invited Kagwe to appear before them in vain.