On Thursday, Susan Nakhumicha, Cabinet Secretary for Health, stated that she is determined to oversee transformation at the scandal-plagued Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA).

As the new KEMSA board took office alongside the agency's workers, who had been sent home pending investigations into a botched mosquito nets tender, Nakhumicha stated that the board's first meeting was scheduled for Thursday to discuss the agency's transformation.

PHOTO | COURTESY Susan Nakhumicha

She said that she requests that the investigating officers hurry up and deliver the results to them, and they will conclude this topic once they obtain the results. Cleaning up with this new board starts today. Adding that the new board members are going to have their first meeting today to figure out how to get out of the mess

Nakhumicha also directed that all KEMSA personnel on leave or working from home return to their workstations as soon as possible.

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President William Ruto cancelled KEMSA board selections on Monday and appointed a new board consisting of the chairperson and four board members.

This comes amid an investigation into corruption charges and mishandling of medical supplies at the agency, resulting in the suspension of the CEO and three employees.

The issue involves a botched procurement process conducted by the Ministry of Health that threatened to cost the country Ksh.3.7 billion in anti-malaria nets from the Global Fund.

PHOTO | COURTESY Susan Nakhumicha

The Global Fund has issued a multi-billion-dollar tender for the provision of 10.2 million long-lasting polyethene and polyester nets to be distributed as part of the Malaria mass campaign from November this year to July next year.

Locally, the tender was issued in January of this year. Still, it soon ran into problems due to disagreements between the health ministry and the Global Fund over the specifications of the nets to be provided, resulting in an alteration to the offer and an extension. 

The bids needed to be up to standard. The Global Fund was compelled to withdraw the tender and offer it straight to its procurement wing Wambo.org, causing Kenya to lose hundreds of millions of shillings in funding.

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

KEMSA has yet to contact the Global Fund, according to CS Nakhumicha, although Kenya's engagement with the international health finance organization extends beyond the mosquito nets tender.