Dear Irungu Nyakera,
Firstly, receive my belated congratulations on your appointment to chair the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority. When I think about the task ahead of you, I sometimes wonder whether I should hold you in admiration for the milestone or sympathise with you for the almost insurmountable challenge awaiting you.
Your history, though, paints an image of a Starehe Boys and Stanford University alumnus who grew into a towering behemoth bestriding the corporate world like a colossus, becoming a managing director in NIC Bank at the age of 28, a regional director for Frontier Markets Fund Managers – manning 18 sub-Saharan Africa countries at the age of 30, the managing director of Equity Investment Bank, leading Equity Bank Holdings to acquire Procredit Bank in DRC at the age of 32, before becoming the youngest principal secretary in the Republic of Kenya at the age of 33.
An imposing resume as this one deeply convinces me of a man prepared for such a time as this one. You are, undoubtedly, the right man for the job.
Sir, as you are well aware, Kemsa is tasked with the pivotal role of bulk procurement, warehousing and distribution of health commodities to all public health facilities in the country. By so doing, it should save the government millions of shillings while ensuring that only standard products reach the nation’s patients and other targeted communities.
Instead of Kemsa playing its great role in ensuring that the nation’s health system remains robust, the authority has been hijacked by miscreants who have seen it stagger from one multimillion-shilling scandal to another in blatant disdain of the law and the people’s welfare.
From Covid millionaires minting billions at the expense of the people ravaged by the unforgiving virus to flawed procurement aimed at favouring ghost companies and faceless scoundrels, Kemsa is a swamp in dire need of draining.
Dear sir, the decision by President Ruto to reconstitute the entire Kemsa board, and pick you as the captain to steer the ship, was an expression of his confidence in your ability to weather the storm and navigate the authority into greatness.
Now that you have settled in your office, allow me to quote the good book, in Luke 12:48, “...from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.”
And since you are also a great politician and a leader of no mean feat, may you ponder the words of political theorist Nicollo Machiavelli, “without an opportunity, their abilities would have been wasted, and without their abilities, the opportunity would have arisen in vain. These opportunities, then, gave these men the chance they needed...”
The President has given you an opportunity to serve Kenya and its great people. He counts on you to crack the whip in Kemsa, free it from the stranglehold of the corrupt and institute world-class supply chain management to enable it to execute its duties effectively.
I’m sure this will not be the most daunting task you have ever faced and I know you are a great and remarkable man, go ye and serve.
Public policy analyst. @S_kimanimwangi
