• The authority on Thursday announced the appointment of Kiunge, who is expected to take over from acting CEO John Kabuchi.
• Kabuchi took over from Jonah Manjari in an acting capacity on December 18.
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority is under fire over the latest appointment of Terry Kiunge Ramadhani as substantive chief executive officer.
The authority on Thursday announced the appointment of Kiunge, who is expected to take over from acting CEO John Kabuchi.
Kabuchi took over from Jonah Manjari in an acting capacity on December 18.
Manjari was kicked out of office in a series of radical changes at the authority.
In the radical changes, the entire staff was sent home in early November and their positions declared redundant by Kemsa board chaired by Mary Mwadime.
Kemsa was plagued by a Sh7.8 billion scandal involving the purchase of items for use in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A task force formed to assess the agency recommended the organisational restructuring of the supplies authority.
The team said this was in order to overhaul and strengthen the capacity of the agency to deliver.
Mwadime in a statement on Thursday, said Kiunge had emerged as the best in an exercise that has been ongoing since March 2022.
“Ms Terry has worked as a senior director President’s Delivery Unit which offered her a front row seat to understanding how critical the achievement of universal health coverage is to the government of Kenya,” the statement reads.
But the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya has poked holes in the entire recruitment process, saying the appointment of Kiunge is in violation of provisions of the Kemsa Act.
Section 8(2)(a) of the Kemsa Act stipulates that the minimum qualifications should be a first degree in pharmacy, medicine, business management, finance, supply chain management, or any other related field from a recognised university.
The notice by Mwadime states that Kiunge holds a Master's in business administration, adoptive leadership certification and a Bachelor's in education from Kenyatta University.
According to PSK president Louis Machogu, the major function of Kemsa is procurement, warehousing and distribution of health products and technologies.
“We find it hard to understand why the Kemsa board would settle on a candidate who has no experience in health commodities supply chain management, yet there were other more qualified and experienced candidates who applied for the position,” Machogu said on Friday.
PSK said the availability of quality health products and technologies is key to the success of UHC hence the appointment of the CEO should be "purely on merit and not connections".
When reached for comment, Kemsa downplayed the allegations raised by PSK and did not issue a statement on the matter.
The new Kemsa CEO will be tasked with steering the state agency as it seeks to introduce reforms geared towards guaranteeing ethical and cost-effective operations in the local public health space.
At the President’s Delivery Unit, Kiunge was in charge of monitoring and evaluating support for several national government health pillar flagship projects such as the UHC.
She is also a certified project management professional and a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).