President William Ruto has fired Josephine Mburu as the Principal Secretary, State Department for Public Health and Professional Standards over the alleged impropriety within the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA).
In a statement signed by Felix Koskei, Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service, the president also revoked the appointment of the chairperson and dissolved the entire board.
Consequently, the head of state appointed Irungu Nyakera as chairperson of the board and reconstituted the entire board with four new appointees.
KEMSA is currently on the spot over a Sh3.7 billion mosquito nets scandal.
The Global Fund had floated the tender that could have also seen KEMSA rake in a total of Sh370 million in revenue through warehousing and transport logistics.
The Fund however cancelled the tender over irregularities in the procurement process that the agency argues were skewed in favour of one of the bidders.
The Fund is now seeking to move the process into its internal procurement protocols, denying the country from earning Sh600 million.
The move could put at risk over 10 million people who were expected to benefit from insecticide-treated nets.
The long-lasting polyethene and polyester nets were to be distributed from November this year to July next year as part of the mass malaria campaign.
Locally, the tender was floated in January this year but ran into headwinds soon after.
The Ministry of Health and the global fund had earlier clashed on the specifications of the nets to be delivered.
This resulted in an amendment of the tender and the extension of the same.
