KEMSA boss Andrew Mulwa grilled over role in mosquito nets scandal

Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) Dr. Andrew Mulwa is now on the spot.

The National Assembly’s Health Committee on Tuesday questioned Dr. Mulwa's suitability as a CEO of the drug agency due to his involvement in the mosquito net tender scandal.

It has emerged that Dr. Mulwa, who was the Director of Medical Services at the Ministry of Health, allegedly authored a suspicious clause after the preliminary stage of the bidding process for outsourcing treated mosquito nets in favour of candidates who were later disqualified by the Global Fund.

Nyeri Town MP Mathenge Duncan posed: “You were directly responsible for inserting a controversial clause that led to cancellation of the tender by Global Fund. Why did you change a clause to exclude bidders?”

The KEMSA boss responded: “The clause has been in existence since 2016, it was a normal procedure.”

Dr. Mulwa is said to have authorized the insertion of a specification that included requirement of a Piperonyl Butoxide (PBO) after the preliminary tender bidding stage.

Seme MP James Nyikal stated: “Then why didn’t you include the clause in the preliminary stage of tendering? You are actually the author of the mosquito net scandal.”

Members of the Parliamentary health watchdog questioned how and why Dr. Mulwa was picked as acting CEO of KEMSA, considering the role he played in authoring documents that were subject to rejection of the tender process by the Global Fund.

MP Mathenge went on: “It was wrong for the CS to pick Mulwa for the CEO Job at KEMSA yet he was implicated in the mosquito net scandal.”

Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakumicha told the committee that KEMSA lost over Ksh.63 million in monetary transaction alone as a result of the mosquito net tender scandal.

“How is it that 60% of NHIF beneficiaries are private facilities? In fact one at the top list is among those suspended,” said the CS.

Like KEMSA, NHIF was also subjected to intense scrutiny, with CS Nakumicha admitting that over 60% of NHIF beneficiaries are from private hospitals.

“One facility stated that it had 200 inpatients and needed time to transfer them. We insisted it has to be within the directed time,” she stated.

A spot check revealed that some blacklisted health facilities implicated in the NHIF claims scam had since closed shop while some were still operating despite the government's directive to have their services suspended.”