Kenya: CS Nakhumicha Linked to Sh3.7bn Mosquito Net Tender Supply

Nairobi — Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha has been linked to the Sh3.7 billion mosquito net tender supply funded by the global fund that was canceled over technicalities.

Revelations made before the Senate Health Committee Kemsa chief executive officer Terry Ramadhani and the Authority's board chairperson Daniel Rono revealed external influence by interested parties in the multi-billion tendering process.

Ramadhani said her attempts to seek clarification and concurrence over some of the raised issues were futile as her several letters went unresponded.

CS Nakhumicha is said to have directed her to subsequently seek guidance from Former Principal Secretary Peter Tum for medical service but currently serving under the Ministry of Sports.

"I was told by the CS that any communication I should have should be with Tum because Kemsa falls under him although some budget for malaria and TB programmes were under Dr Mburu," said Ramadhani.

The suspended KEMSA CEO was perplexed following her dismissal explaining to senators that the tendering process was above board despite the termination by the global fund.

She insisted that no funds were lost in the tendering process terming the consequences of the cancellation as a loss of income opportunity of a sum of Sh 70M, if the tendering process was approved by the global fund.

"I believe there isn't anything untoward on how we handled the process to warrant the kind of treatment we have received. Even as the CEO, I did not understand what the issue was but since it was the global fund's decision and being the funders, we had nothing much to do," Ramadhani told Senators.

The CEO of KEMSA believes the move to suspend her alongside the authority's board was unwarranted treatment since they had followed the laid down requirement agreed upon by the global fund and the National Treasury at the grant approval stage

"Nobody has contacted me,I found communication of my suspension through the media. There's nothing apparent that warrants the treatment we have received. There was no unprocedural act or loss of funds," Ramadhani stated.

She explained that the move by the global fund to cancel the tender over inconsistencies and pagination errors was quite peculiar as previously such scenarios have emerged and it didn't warrant any cancellation.

"This is not the only tender that we have done for the global fund and the security bid documents were submitted separately. It was not an issue of non-continuance and that's why the meeting we had with them because it was very peculiar," Ramadhani said.

Narok Senator Ledama Ole Kina questioned why the global fund made the decision to cancel the tendering process by KEMSA over technicalities alluding that the global fund might have had vested interest in the program.

"Did you induce anything to show that they were interested? Did you deduce any interest from the global fund so that we can cut to the chase here," Kina stated.

"It is as if the global fund had a particular company in mind to be given this tender," he added.

Ramadhan stated that the internal organization failed to give them additional information on the cited inconsistencies that led to the cancellation of the tendering process.

The tender was advertised on January 31, 2023 and closed on March 10, 2023 following an extension on February 23 after the Former Principal Secretary for Public Health Josephine Mburu cited omission on the tender advertisement over-specification of the net.

"We don't understand why the Principal Secretary under the guidance of the Head of Malaria indicated omissions yet there was no change in the global fund requirements," the CEO Kemsa said.

Authority's board chairperson Daniel Rono narrated how he was wrongfully dismissed having sat at the board when the procurement process had already commenced and it was at the tail end of completion.

"I learnt of the tender cancellation from the media. I joined Kemsa board in February and got the process ongoing and so I was technically green on what was happening," said Rono

Ramadhani narrated how there was confusion in the KEMSA board as different gazette notices were issued by CS Nakhumicha on the composition of the board leaving questions emerging about which members were legitimately appointed to the board.

"There was a lot of confusion on who the board members were. I did not know what was going on," she said.

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