COVID-19 fund raises Ksh.3.5 billion in donations

The management of the COVID-19 emergency response fund has confirmed the receipt of Ksh.3.5 billion in donations from members of public and companies across its six months of operation.

“In cash, we raised just over Ksh.2.6 billion, we then coordinated food worth about Ksh.450 million and received food donations worth another Ksh.430 million, stored at the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF),” Chairperson to the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund Board Jane Karuku said during the National COVID-19 Conference on Monday.

The bulk of proceeds from the kitty or about Ksh.1.5 billion was used in the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to 65 COVID-19 related hospitals around the country.

Ksh.100 million was deployed for the purchase of 2.6 million face masks or an equivalent Ksh.38.46 for one mask.

Further, the board distributed Ksh.1000 every week to 100,000 households within Nairobi and its environs for a combined cost of Ksh.400 million over the period.

The COVID-19 Emergency response fund worked with the various entities including medical experts and the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM).

The fund was registered as a limited liability company which included board of directors and different committees while the team hired the ‘Big 4’ audit firms PwC, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG to play an oversight role.

Jane Karuku expressed her dismay on the local industry capacities to support the battle against the pandemic as the fund’s board fostered the transformation of local industry to PPE manufacturing points.

“We were very shocked at the capacity we have in Kenya and were even embarrassed to realize we can build and buy Kenya,” she said.

Karuku says the board which incorporates other private sector members among them Equity Bank Group CEO James Mwangi and KCB’s Joshua Oigara has effectively played its role in mitigating the effects of the pandemic.

“Anybody who was going to help us with this work did it for free. We didn’t even take a cup of tea. We think we’ve used our money well as we have transformed the local industry. This imitative has proved we can do anything,” she added.