The country risks losing Sh3.7 billion after a bungled tender for the supply of treated mosquito nets.
The development could leave millions of low-income households at risk of contracting Malaria, a deadly disease that kills an estimated 12,000 people yearly in Kenya.
The Global Fund had floated the tender that could have also seen the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) rake in a total of Sh370 million in revenue through warehousing and transport logistics.
The Global Fund has now cancelled the tender over irregularities in the procurement process that the agency argues were skewed in favour of one of the bidders.
The Fund is now seeking to move the process into its internal procurement protocols, denying the country from earning Sh600 million.
The move could put at risk over 10 million people who were expected to benefit from insecticide-treated nets.
The long-lasting polyethene and polyester nets were to be distributed from November this year to July next year as part of the mass malaria campaign.
Locally, the tender was floated in January this year but ran into headwinds soon after.
The Ministry of Health and the global fund had earlier clashed on the specifications of the nets to be delivered.
This resulted in an amendment of the tender and the extension of the same.
A total of 17 bids were received, with five making the cut according to the evaluating committee.
With the blunder, the fund has warned that it would be a tall order to get the nets procured and distributed on time.
