In the latest scandal at the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), 1.1 million condoms, 908,000 mosquito nets, and tuberculosis drugs worth Ksh.10 million have gone missing.
According to the Global Fund, a Switzerland-based organization that funds governments to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, the supplies are suspected of being stolen and resold to private chemists.
KEMSA also overstated the value of medicines by Ksh.640 million, according to the organization’s audit.
Global Fund, whose main donors are the US, France, Germany and Japan, has granted Kenya over $1.4 (Ksh.159.6) billion since 2003.
The organization now wants a fresh investigation launched into the case.
KEMSA was in 2020 caught in another corruption scandal, with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) reporting “criminal” behavior in the purchase of Covid-19 kits.
The anti graft agency further noted an “irregular expenditure” of Ksh.7.8 billion.
Noordin Haji, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, has since stated that investigations into the ‘Covid Billionaires’ scandal are still ongoing, urging Kenyans to be patient.
“Investigations and preparations into prosecution are not things that can be done overnight. To get a simple corporation involving other jurisdictions in terms of tracing the money, for example, takes time,” Haji told Citizen TV on December 2 last year.
He added: “Kenyans need to understand. If we hurry some of these cases then we will be hoodwinking Kenyans that we are doing something but at the end of it it will come out clearly that the cases were not ready.”