On Sunday evening NTV aired a lengthy investigative piece by Dennis Okari detailing how a whooping Sh43 billion meant for COVID-19 purposes dissipated into thin air at Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA).
The piece also uncovered how PPEs donated by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma got sold to Tanzanians. Also laid bare, was the underhand manoeuvres of top government officials and MPs who facilitated and even looted the COVID-19 funds most of which came from the international donour community.
Below are the Key Highlights of the Entire Investigative Piece as reported by NTV's DENNIS OKARI.
Key Timelines
Jan, 30, 2020: World Health Organization (WHO) declares COVID-19 a global health emergency.
February 27th 2020: A China Southern Airlines flight with 239 people landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, triggering anger across the country.
February 2020: Kenya bows to pressure and suspends flights to China.
The night before the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Kenya: Two vans with communication jamming equipment made their way to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). The unit handling COVID-19 testing was limited to duty personnel, computer networks disabled.
Investigation Begins...
"If Kenya could get serious and crack the whip, then I believe there are senators who should not be sitting in Senate," says Dr Godwins Agutu, Director National Action Against Corruption (NAAC).
NTV: Do you know what happened to the Jack Ma donation to Kenya?
Senator Sylvia Kasanga: KEMSA confirmed they had received the Jack Ma kits. With reference to the stealing, we had interacted with KEMSA once. We want to restart the process.
Jack Ma's Stolen Donations
On March 24th the first batch of medical equipment from Jack Ma arrived at JKIA. Kenya received about 20,000 testing kits and 100,000 face masks to help protect healthcare workers on the frontline.
Two companies (Mega scope healthcare & Crown healthcare limited) were involved in clearing the medical supplies from Jack Ma at JKIA. The shipment disappeared to a private warehouse and no one wanted to talk about it.
Dr. Godwin Agutu: Approximately three quarters of Jack Ma’s donation to Kenya was sold to Tanzania. The quarter that was left to circulate in the market was sold out to other companies.
NTV Investigates has established, through NAAC that nearly a dozen unscrupulous companies in Tanzania benefitted from the Jack Ma donation meant for Kenyans. The consignment was moved by road to Tanzania - escorted by police officers.
Mega scope healthcare and crown healthcare limited were appointed by KEMSA and authorized to clear the consignment from JKIA. There are records to show they received the kits, but there is no public record of what happened.
Plot, Execution & State Protection of Culprits
KEMSA’s medical supplies tendering process was twisted. Several genuine companies that traditionally supplied to KEMSA found themselves outside, new companies from well-connected individuals got the tenders.
Fraudsters with the backing of high ranking govt officials and their sponsors, including top-level managers at KEMSA conspired to move the Jack Ma consignment by road to Tanzania.
NTV has established that nearly a dozen unscrupulous companies in Tanzania benefitted from the Jack Ma donation meant for Kenyans.
The planning and coordination of looting the Covid-19 funds and supplies was done in a private office block along Chalby Drive in Lavington, Nairobi.
One of the Tanzanian companies that received part of the diverted consignment, Pivotech Company Limited, offers generator maintenance, telecoms tower commissioning, civil works, network installation and Air-con maintenance.
Dr. Godwins Agutu: The people associated with Mega Scope Company and Health Crown Company sit with ‘who is who’ in this country. They are enjoying some protection somewhere.
KEMSA would award a company a tender and later cancel it, but would not delete the information in their system. They would then manipulate the system and open similar accounts.
The awarding & subsequent cancellations of tenders within a short time due to "failure to deliver" on time despite contravening the delivery timelines was meant to frustrate & make it impossible for genuine companies to do business with KEMSA.
Seven of 12 companies listed had their tenders cancelled. However, their names still appear in the KEMSA public procurement system as the multi-million bids went to shadow companies.
The Untouchable Crooks
Kilig Limited, registered on January 22, 2020, received a direct tender a month later to deliver PPEs at the cost of Sh4B. A Nairobi lawyer registered the company on behalf of a vocal Jubilee party power broker & the PA of a top official in the opposition.
KEMSA lied to the Senate Ad-Hoc committee on COVID-19 that it was selling a pack of 50 3-ply facemasks at Sh5,000 while others were selling at Sh1,881 and Sh2,325. In reality, the shadow companies that won KEMSA tenders to supply medical equipment, did it at grossly inflated prices.
"Some Senators went through extensive proxies to make sure they win KEMSA tenders, get the money and supply nothing," Dr Agutu says.
He adds: "The people associated with these companies, some of them sit at the national committee on health, they are MPS, lawmakers, senators, some of them are PAs to very powerful figures in this country. If you are going to investigate these people, where will you be drawing your authority and power? They are lawmakers trading with KEMSA, they can form a canopy, protect themselves, sanitize themselves and make you & your office as useless as possible."
Highlights Compiled by 254 NewsDay.