Members of Parliament now want the Health Ministry and the National Treasury to explain how they have spent money meant to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Led by Soy MP Caleb Kositany, the legislators tasked the National Assembly Finance Committee to compel the two ministries to come clear on how the money has been spent.
This comes after an exposé by a local daily on how billions of shillings circulated and the firms at both the national and county levels got paid, in a supplies frenzy that has created several Covid-19 dollar millionaires.
According to the exposé, some business people chattered planes to China to physically fly in Covid-19 medical supplies while others waited for the goods to land in Nairobi, then snapped them up in bulk and waited.
Then there were those who waylaid donations at the airport and diverted them to private warehouses, waiting for the procurement whistle to be blown.
“At the time, billions of shillings were flowing into government accounts as worried Kenyans absorbed the shock of the novel coronavirus landing in the country via London,” read part of the exposé.
Initially, Kenya received Sh78.3 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to address the pandemic before the World Bank wired another Sh108 billion to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), as both budgetary support and extra resources to help fight the deadly viral infection.
The African Development Bank also joined the fundraising effort, sending some Sh22.5bn boost as a concessional loan before the European Union topped this up with an additional Sh7.5bn in form of grants.
According to the exposé, in just under 60 days, Kenya had already secured Sh223 billion as part of its Covid-19 war chest.
Kositany said despite all this, efforts to get a breakdown of expenditure from the two ministries had been futile.
“Mr Speaker now that we have serious exposes on the misuse of these monies that are meant to safeguard lives of Kenyans, a time has come for this house to get the report so that members can be in a position to follow up on the management and use of the money,” Kositany said.
The legislator for instance questioned why NIS is being funded by the Covid money to trace those who have been in contact with Covid-19 patients.
“Mr Speaker NIS has an existing budget to trace people. It is in fact their mandates under the law because they know who is where and can easily find them, therefore why are we funding this NIS with Covid-19 funds to do their work,” the legislator posed.
A principal secretary who tested positive for Covid-19 questioned the country’s management of the pandemic and wondered what the billions spent so far have achieved.
Foreign Affairs PS Macharia Kamau tested positive for the virus and was forced to hand over his duties to political and diplomatic secretary Ambassador Tom Amollo.
But Macharia regretted that "the government’s contact tracing has collapsed, there is no access to proper care and even more tragic is that there is no medical insurance cover for the virus".
“For all the billions that have been spent on this campaign, it’s hard to imagine that at the point of contact where the disease actually happens, there is no system to make sure that we have access to proper care and the proper contact tracing is actually done to keep track of those who are not well or maybe infecting others,” Macharia said in a WhatsApp group of top government officials, seen by the Star.
In April, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe had given a breakdown of how the Sh1 billion given by World Bank.
In a document tabled before the Health Committee of the National Assembly chaired by Murang’a Woman Representative Sabina Chege, the ministry used Sh42 million to lease 15 ambulances.
This means the ministry paid Sh2.8 million for each of the leased ambulances.
The ministry used Sh14.4 million to maintain and fuel 30 vehicles used by its officers across the country, translating to Sh40,000 per vehicle every week.
The document was tabled by Health CS Susan Mochache during a virtual meeting with the MPs.
From the records, the Health docket approved Sh13.5 million to accommodate 30 health care workers over a period of three months.
By then, Sh12 million had been spent on accommodating the workers less than two months since the first case was reported on March 13.
The ministry spent Sh2 million out of the Sh6 million approved for airtime for some of its 500 staff for a period of three months.
The PS told the House team another Sh4 million was used to buy tea and snacks for various teams out of the Sh10.1 million budget.
In its communications which includes advertising, the ministry had spent Sh70 million and a further Sh6.5 million to procure stationery.
The ministry had budgeted for Sh2.5 million on stationery, a figure it has surpassed by Sh4 million, according to the document tabled before the committee.
Printing of quarantine and travellers' forms and discharge forms consumed Sh9 million, the record indicated.
A further Sh11.8 million was used to procure and install call centres for grievances and complaints management from members of the public.
Mochache explained that the ministry channelled over Sh610 million to Kenya Medical Research Institute for the procurement of a range of laboratory equipment and kits necessary in the management and testing of coronavirus.
The ministry intended to use Sh976.7 million from the World Bank money but had by then spent Sh1.3 billion.
“The excess expenditure will be drawn from the additional funds from the World Bank. Contracts have already been entered into for the above procurement,” Mochache said.
But after public uproar, Senators opened investigations into the use of Sh1 billion Covid-19 cash.
Speaker Ken Lusaka directed the Health committee chaired by Trans Nzoia Senator Michael Mbito to immediately investigate the matter and report back to the House.
“In the statement, the committee should explain how the Ministry of Health hired 15 ambulances for Sh42 million translating to Sh2.8 million each for one month,” reads the statement.
The lawmakers wondered how the ministry spent Sh14.4 million to hire 30 cars, translating to about Sh40,000 per week, and demanded an explanation from the ministry.
Concerning the Sh10 million the Ministry disclosed to have used to buy tea and snacks for officers battling the pandemic, the Senators demanded a detailed breakdown on how the cash was utilised.
“The committee should explain how Jack Ma’s donations were distributed across the country,” he added
Further, he wanted an explanation on how the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) got Sh593 million for personal protective equipment (PPE).
He said the committee should also find from CS Kagwe how some Sh9 million was used to print travellers' forms, quarantine forms and buy stationery.
“The committee should explain how Sh70 million was used for communication in a month, yet media houses have given free airtime worth Sh150 million.”
