The Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), Andrew Mutava Mulwa, provided a detailed account of how the government lost a Ksh3.7 billion mosquito net tender.
Mulwa appeared before the Senate Health Committee to defend himself against any wrongdoing in the tendering process.
According to documents submitted during the Senate hearings, Dr. Mulwa shared the correspondence between his office, the Directorate of Medical Services, the Division of National Malaria Program, and the State Department of Public Health.
On October 12, 2022, Mulwa received a letter from the Malaria Division Program informing him that the Global Fund was willing to support Kenya in procuring Long-Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs). He was instructed to forward the procurement memo to the Principal Secretary (PS) for Health.
Mulwa explained that he acted as instructed and sent the letter on the same day, which was subsequently forwarded to the National Treasury on October 22, 2023.
On February 20, 2023, the Malaria Division informed Mulwa that there were inconsistencies in the specifications for the LLINs.
“I was informed by the then Head of Malaria Program that the procurement of the mosquito nets as advertised by KEMSA, had missed the type of impregnation and that he thought that should be included in the tender,” says Mulwa.
In response, Mulwa advised the Head of the Malaria program to communicate the issue through the established channel to the PS.
CEO was bypassed in communications
However, Mulwa stated that he was bypassed in the subsequent communications between the Malaria division, KEMSA, and the PS for Public Health.
On February 23, 2023, Mulwa learned from newspapers and the National Treasury that the LLINs tender had been floated by KEMSA based on advice from the PS for Public Health. He later discovered that the PS had acted on advice from the head of the Malaria program without involving his office or the Head of the Department.
“I later learned that the PS had acted on an advisory from the head of the Malaria program which apparently was not processed through the Head of Department or my office,” Dr Mulwa told the Senate committee.
Canceled tender
In April 2023, the Global Fund canceled the tender due to inconsistencies in the procurement process.
While KEMSA had approved five companies for the tender, the Global Fund’s investigation revealed that they were not qualified and that two qualified companies had been overlooked.
In response to the cancellation, President William Ruto revoked the appointment of Josephine Mburu as PS for Public Health and dissolved the entire KEMSA board. Mulwa was appointed as the new KEMSA CEO, and Terry Ramadhani’s appointment was revoked.
“Watch this space. I am doing something about it. I don’t want to speak about it now, but you will see results,” Ruto would say in reference to the KEMSA scandal.
Global Fund reinstates tender
A day after President William Ruto sacked the PS and suspended the board of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa), the Global Fund reinstated the tender.
The fund through its Kenya coordinating mechanism has advertised tenders worth Sh54 billion tenders to cover the fight against Malaria, HIV and Tuberculosis for the next three years.
The funds utilization period is between July 1, 2024, to June 30 2027.
