Governors have sent a protest letter to the Global Fund demanding the Sh38 billion donation to fight HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.
The county chiefs are backed by 35 civil society groups and NGOs that implement health programmes in Kenya.
They are angry that the Global Fund — which finances the fight against the three diseases in Kenya— has rejected their request to send money directly to counties yet health is a fully devolved function.
In a letter seen by Star, the governors accuse the Geneva-based fund of bad faith and wasting their time because they have been making preparations to receive the money for at least nine months.
“The sudden turn of events as communicated in your [May 24] letter is thus alarming and in bad faith considering the amount of time put towards realisation of the objective,” the Council of Governors said in their letter dated June 11.
The letter was sent to Linden Morrison, the head of High Impact Africa II department at Global Fund.
Governors say the fund’s insistence that its monies should be managed by the Ministry of Health, was an affront to the Constitution, which has fully devolved health services.
“Counties do not agree with your findings or the way forward and request that you let the country determine how best it will implement the grant in a manner consistent with is Constitution, thus respecting the country’s own financial and governance systems,” says the letter, signed by CoG chief executive officer Jacqueline Mogeni.
Last month, Morrison wrote to Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache rejecting the request to send grants directly to the counties.
He said current model, where the Ministry of Health, Amref and the Kenya Red Cross Society manage funds, is better.
He said sending resources to counties presented accountability risks as auditing multiple programmes in 47 counties would be laborious.
“Global Fund grants in Kenya are performing well under current architecture and have demonstrated tremendous results in the quality of health outcomes and the strengthening of health systems in the fight against the three diseases," Linden said.
This week, 37 civil society groups threw their weight behind the governors.
In a letter seen by Star, the groups say GF’s decision lacked public participation and ignores the Constitution.
“If the Ministry of Health administers the funds or purports to steward county service delivery, it will be acting contrary to the Constitution and the law and this would be subject to a legal challenge before the courts,” says their letter, sent to Morrison on Tuesday.
Some of the NGOs that signed the letter are Nephak, Kelin, Ketam, Ishtar and Stop TB Partnership Kenyan Chapter.
Nephak chair Nelson Otuoma told the Star the founding principles of the GF emphasise the importance of country ownership and the need to respect country-led formulation and implementation process.
But one GF official told the Star 80 per cent of the assistance to Kenya comes as health commodities such as mosquito nets, condoms and drugs, which are distributed across all counties.
“Only about 20 per cent of Global Fund resources are received in the form of money. That 20 per cent is mainly for training of health workers and for supervision costs,” said John Ochero, senior fund portfolio manager in charge of Kenya programmes.
(Edited by P. Wanambisi)
