Meru governor Kiraitu Murungi’s wife Priscillar Kathuguchi Murungi and son Fanon Mwenda Murungi are among the beneficiaries of Covid-19 funds.
According to documentary evidence in our possession, the two received at least Ksh45 million through their company Caperina Enterprices Limited.
Caperina is said to have supplied the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) with 10,000 boxes of surgical masks, each box with 50 masks.
Each box was sold at Ksh4,500.
This means that each mask was sold at Ksh90, against the prevailing market price of Ksh20 per mask.
As of August 31, 2020, three shareholders were listed with the Registrar of Companies with Priscillar being the majority shareholder (80 percent), Caroline Nkatha Murungi (10 percent) and Winnie Makena Murungi (10 percent).
Other companies that benefited from the tenders that have been termed as flawed include Wallabis Ventures Ltd, Sagana Holdings Ltd, Geokim Supplies Ltd, Edumart Enterprises Ltd, Hamethyst Ltd and Escobar Kenya Ltd.
Last week, it was alleged that Health PS Susan Mochache instructed Kemsa on the supplies to be bought, prices and where.
Appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Health, board chair Kembi Gitura made the revelation citing a letter dated April 15 addressed to suspended CEO Jonah Manjari.
“We received a letter from the Ministry of Health containing a list of where we should procure from, the prices and the quantity. I can vouch on the quality of PPEs we procured,” Gitura said.
In the letter, PS Mochache had preset prices for the equipment, a directive the Kemsa acting Procurement Officer Edward Buluma said was not procedural.
“This is to approve the procurement of goods worth Ksh758, 690,583 as outlined in the annex. Disregard all other requests made in relation to Covid as they have been captured under this approval,” the letter from PS Mochache read in part.
Documents tabled before the Sabina Chege-led committee indicate that several companies including Megascope Healthcare, Tikasan Holdings Co Ltd, KEMA Ltd, Medilab and Applied Products supplied Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to the agency.
Kemsa still has in storage equipment worth Ksh6.4 billion for which they are seeking approval from the Ministry of Health to sell at a loss.
If allowed to sell, the agency will make a Ksh2.4 billion loss.
