Kenyanbulletin.com has analysed and found more information pertaining the involvement of Chairman of the Board of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) Mr Kembi Gitura in illegal procurement.
In the last article, we saw how Kembi, after looting over Sh1 billion from KEMSA through proxies, he shouted at the Senators trying to intimidate them into submission while being questioned about the misappropriation of funds at the authority.
On being asked about an order he made to the CEO Manjari to sign a contract with some company that had won a tender that was the subject of an investigation by the CEO, Kembi replied rather rudely.
“I don’t know why the Senator is relying on leaked documents and leaked emails. If he had asked me to provide it I would have done so because I wrote it and I own it. Don’t try to confuse Kenyans that I directed the CEO on a tender. That tender had already been won and if Kemsa did not sign the contract within the stipulated time, the consequences would have been dire, I directed the CEO to sign the contract to protect public money,” Gitura told senators in late August.
Mr Gitura is a direct beneficiary of the loot.
What our research shows is that the KEMSA CEO was being pushed and pulled from all sides and the ones who were calling the shots were the board chair, Cabinet Secretary and Principal Secretary of Health.
Kembi, by virtue of being the board Chairman was not supposed to transact with KEMSA however, the opposite is true.
Sh1 billion payments
Kenyanbulletin.com learnt that Kembi Gitura owns Absa Chemicals Limited which was paid Sh21 million in the KEMSA Emergency Procurement for COVID-19.
Sources also intimate that this is not the only payment that the former Murang’a senator received in the looting of KEMSA. A company known as Racking System Warehousing was contracted by KEMSA at a fee of Sh959 million. The firm is associated with Chege Gitura, a brother to the board chairman.
There are other firms namely Antarc Healthcare and Armick Limited, also associated with the Gitura, were paid Sh7.4 million and Sh 28.6 million respectively.
The Chairman’s hand in the compromised adhoc evaluation committee that gave his brother Chege & China Railway number 10 a tender worth Sh959M for the Warehouse Racking System.
Arrogance that was displayed before the senate committee, when Gitura was asked about an email he wrote to the suspended CEO ordering him to sign a contract awarded to China Railway number 10 associated with his brother and a company associated to a Kiambu businessman by noon of 28/07/2020.
Gitura has interdicted the Legal director of the agency, Mr Fred Wanyonyi after he and the CEO refused to play ball because the going-on were beyond what was legal. It is witness accounts of people like Wanyonyi that has exposed the chairman’s dirty deeds.
Kembi Gitura manipulated the evaluation committee and one of the evaluators, an engineer was heard bragging how they will give Kembi’s brother the tender and the Chinese had promised them Sh 45 million for the job.
Investigations have shown that the chairman was in a hurry to silence the legal director by sending him home on interdiction that was later lifted by the court awaiting hearing from the both parties.
Acting CEO and the evaluation committee
The acting CEO Mr. Edward Njoroge a close ally of the Chairman having single handedly picked him to be the chair the adhoc evaluation committee for the Warehouse Racking System.
No wonder when the CEO and the other two directors were suspended the Chairman had an easy decision to appoint his ally Edward Njoroge with less experience at KEMSA as he is only 8 months there as the Operations Director to act as the CEO.
Investigations are underway to understand how the Sh45 million kickback was shared amongst the team under his watch.
Evaluation committee for the Warehouse Racking System
- Edward Njoroge – Chairman
- Nicholas Chengeh – Secretary
- Arch Itaru – Project Manager
- Gatai (Kembi’s neighbor)
- Dr Samwel
- Jackson Kafuna – Public works
- Moses Kimani – Public works.
- Mogire – Accountant Kemsa.
All the above mentioned are said to have been compromised and coerced by the chairman to return a favorable report to China Railway number 10, despite them building a bridge in 2015 that collapsed in Trans Nzoia County.
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