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NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 30 – Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has denied the involvement of the US Government in recent changes effected at the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA).
Kagwe who responded to claims on the involvement of the US government in the reconstitution of the KEMSA board said the appointment of Mary Mwadime as the new Board Chairperson is based on merit and not because she is a former US Agency for International Development (USAID) employee.
“They did not influence anything at all and I have not had any conversation with them on this matter at all,” the Health CS on Friday.
Kagwe went on to defend the reconstitution of the Board saying: “we could not have gotten a better person than Mary Mwadime and it is fantastic that she has got some experience in dealing USAID, but we are looking at it more as our advantage because she is a Kenyan, she understands our country, our Ministry of Health and so we are very, very excited about the appointment.”
President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the changes gazette notice on Thursday amid an investigation into a Sh7.8 billion procurement scandal, a move that was criticized by Kenyan legislators.
The new appointments come just days after the United States for the first time declared its stand on a stand off triggered by the USAID’s refusal to hand over a shipment of ARVs, with US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken saying corruption at KEMSA was the elephant in the room.
The Ministry of Health and the donors have since formed a committee to look into issues surrounding the agency though it might take a while before a solution is arrived at since CS Kagwe indicated that his efforts to restructure the agency were being delayed by the prosecution agencies.
The aid agency is also conducting an investigation to find out whether its staff have been colluding with KEMSA to sell the drugs donated to Kenya to some private pharmacies in the country.
“We have also said for the benefit of the Committee, lest some of this corruption issues are pushed towards the Ministry and KEMSA only, there should be equivalent investigations in USAID to see whether some of the money supposedly having been paid to Kenya, could have been paid in Mexico, and other places we hear rumours of,” Kagwe told the Senate team.
Since September 2015, the USAID and KEMSA have had a five-year contract for procurement, warehousing and distribution of donations to Kenya.
The contract ended on September 25, 2020 and before it lapsed, it was extended to December 24, 2020.
Parliamentarians put the USAID on the spot for contracting a blacklisted firm to distribute life-saving HIV and tuberculosis drugs while rejecting the services of the State-run Kenya Medical Supplies Authority.
National Assembly Health Committee members questioned the award of the contract to the privately owned American firm, Chemonics International, which is blacklisted in Nigeria for financial fraud.
Chemonics was accused of hiring Zenith Carex as a sub-contractor which defrauded grant programmes in Nigeria of $3 million (Sh324 million) by systematically inflating invoices for distributing commodities to warehouses and health facilities.
Kenya argued that the recent import arrangement flouted the tax waiver policies on government-to-government donations and that Chemonics had to pay duty as a private entity before the cargo could be released.
The consignment has been lying at the port since January 18 after the State handed a Sh90 million tax bill to Chemonics.
The Health ministry has since committed to pay tax for the Sh1.1 billion consignment of medicines, ending months of accusations and counter-accusations between USAID and the Kenyan government as millions of patients faced a shortage of drugs.
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