New board chair Irungu Nyakera vows to ‘deliver KEMSA from mess’

Newly-appointed chairperson of the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) board, Irungu Nyakera, has pledged to deliver the scandal-laden state corporation from what he describes as a mess.

President William Ruto on Monday revoked KEMSA board appointments and named Nyakera, a former Principal Secretary in the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry, the new chairperson alongside four board members.

This is amid a probe into allegations of corruption and mismanagement of medical supplies at the agency, which also saw the CEO suspended alongside three staffers.

In a tweet shared on Tuesday morning, Nyakera thanked President Ruto for the appointment and assured he will “deliver KEMSA from the mess.”

“Today I wake up to a new role as the Chairperson of Kenya Medical Supplies Authority. The agency has been riddled with graft for the last few years and I thank His Excellency the President @WilliamsRuto for believing in me to deliver KEMSA from the mess. We will clean the mess, that I [sic] can assure Kenyans. It certainly won’t be easy, so help me God,” the new KEMSA Board chair wrote.

-Bungled mosquito nets tender-

The latest scandal at KEMSA involves a bungled procurement process handled by the Ministry of Health that left the country on the verge of losing Ksh.3.7 billion worth of anti-Malaria nets from the Global Fund.

Global Fund had floated the multi-billion tender for the supply of 10.2 million long-lasting polyethene and polyester nets to be distributed from November this year to July next year as part of the fight against Malaria mass campaign.

Locally, the tender was floated in January this year but ran into headwinds soon after with the health ministry and the Global Fund clashing on the specifications of the nets to be delivered, resulting in an amendment of the tender and the extension of the same.

According to the evaluating committee, a total of 17 bids were received, with five making the cut.

But a review of the tenders by the Global Fund showed that the five bids were not qualified.

Only two companies, Tianjin Yorkool and Premium Movers, who were deemed unfit by the tenders evaluation committee should have made the cut, while Vka Polymers pvt, Shobikaa Impex, and Partec East Africa, which were ranked as qualified should have been disqualified for incomplete pagination.

The Global Fund in its final assessment of the tenders submitted that the two bids assessed as responsive (Shobikaa for polyethene nets and Partec East for polyester nets) failed to meet the mandatory documentation requirement and should not have proceeded to the technical, and financial and post qualification phase.

This forced the Global Fund to cancel the tender and offer it directly to its own procurement wing Wambo.org in a move that is expected to see Kenya lose hundreds of millions of shillings in funding.

If the tender had been handled by Kenya, KEMSA would have received 2% or Ksh.74 million as part of the procurement fee, and 8% or Ksh.295 million as warehousing and distribution charges.