• In her letter dated April 15, Mochache specified to Kemsa the items they were to procure, listed specific suppliers they were to source them from and the prices.
• Through the letter, Mochache authorized the procurement of goods worth Sh758.7 million.
Image: FILE
Kemsa board chairman Kembi Gitura and suspended CEO Jonah Manjari on Friday defended Health CS Susan Mochache over a letter directing the agency to procure Covid 19 items from specific firms.
Speaking during a heated grilling by a Senate committee, Gitura and Manjari sought to absolve Mochache only a day after the chairman appeared to have thrown her under the bus.
“I want to state here that I did not say that the letter by the PS is irregular. The Hansard is there and it is not within my mandate to state whether the letter is irregular or not,” Gitura said.
The former Murang'a senator and Manjari appeared before the joint Senate committees on Health and ad hoc on Covid-19 Situation in the country.
The questioning came only a day after Gitura appeared before the National Assembly Health Committee over the same matter.
In her letter dated April 15, Mochache specified to Kemsa the items they were to procure, listed specific suppliers they were to source them from and the prices.
Through the letter, Mochache authorized the procurement of goods worth Sh758.7 million.
“Disregard all other requests made in relation to Covid as they may have been captured under this approval,” reads the letter.
Manjari, who is currently on suspension to allow for investigations into alleged theft of Covid-19 cash, refuted claims the PS directed Kemsa to procure the items from specific firms.
He said the list of companies attached to the PS’s letter was generated by Kemsa itself when it wrote to the PS requesting for funds to pay the companies for their supplies.
“That letter purporting to give instructions or the perception is erroneous. The letter the PS was actually referring to the one we wrote to her. She wrote the letter attached the list that we had forwarded to her seeking funds to pay the companies,” Manjari said.
According the embattled CEO, the agency sought Sh758.7 million but only Sh305 million had been paid by the time he was suspended by the board.
The two Kemsa bosses were put on the spot to explain the purchase of Covid-19 items at exaggerated prices, reason for single sourcing of companies to supply the commodities as well as the reason for issuance of commitments to the would-be suppliers.
Gitura, who on several occasions engaged the committee in bitter exchanges, was particularly hard pressed over a letter he authored instructing the CEO to sign a Sh1 billion for the construction of a warehouse, despite the matter being under active investigations by the EACC.
“We are not fools. We know what we are doing. Why did you instruct the CEO to sign the contract yet you know very well the matter was under investigations? Which interest did you have?” Narok Senator Ledama Olekina asked.
The chairman also came under fierce criticism from senators Fred Outa (Kisumu) and Beatrice Kwamboka (nomination) over interdiction of the authority’s legal director.
A visibly emotional Gitura rubbished the claims of having peculiar interest in the contract, saying his action was meant to save taxpayers from losing money.
“The consequences of not signing the contract would have been dire. A firm which had lost the contract has challenged the decision outside the timelines. So we had to sign the contract,” he said.
Manjari sought to defend the procurement method – single sourcing – the agency employed in the purchase of Covid-19 items.
He said the urgency under which the items were required compelled Kemsa to use restricted tendering and contract firms outside its list of prequalified suppliers.
“When we started this process in March, China and India where we get the items were under lockdown. There items were not available that is why the prices were high,” Manjari said.
Edited by EKibii