The Senate has concluded that the Sh63 billion medical kits project was conceived like a criminal enterprise, shrouded in opaque procurement processes and aimed at selfish commercial interests.
The committee has asked the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to take up the matter that saw multibillion-shilling equipment handed to counties even though some did not have the relevant infrastructure.
It's important that the commission moves with speed to investigate the matter. The Health ministry and equipment manufacturers in February 2015 signed the deal to lease the machines at a cost of Sh38 billion, but this was later varied to Sh63 billion.
Counties pay Sh9.4 billion, or Sh200 million each, yearly. In the Division of Revenue Bill 2019, counties lost Sh6.5 billion to MES debt servicing.
Contracted firms included Philips from the Netherlands, Bellco SRL from Italy, General Electric from the USA, Mindray Biomedical of China and Esteem from India.
It is important that the commission, upon investigating, either clears those who have been mentioned adversely in the transaction or takes them to court if found to have committed an offence.
Quote of the Day: “Evil is not something superhuman, it’s something less than human.”
Agatha Christie
The English crime writer was born on September 15, 1890.
