A virtual parliamentary committee meeting, held on Thursday, November 19, was brought to a halt after what was meant to be a joke turned sour.
As the senators took turns to grill Angelica Medical Director Nicholas Gitonga, on matters regarding the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) probe, one senator took the chance to send a private chat to a counterpart.
Unknown to him, he accidentally posted the message to the entire group.
The message hinted at the possibility of an affair between two of the committee's members.
Upon realizing that the message was visible to everyone, the senator sought to explain the situation to his counterparts.
“Mr. Chairman, on a point of order, I want to apologise for what I have written. I was only joking...and I did not wish to share it with everyone," he stated.
The joke, however, was not taken lightly as some committee members left in protest, leaving the entire meeting in disarray.
Two of the members exited the virtual hearing without notice, and soon after that, other senators abruptly left the meeting without a formal adjournment.
The situation forced the ongoing KEMSA probe to be delayed as the meeting had been slated to grill directors of various companies on the issuance of tenders by the authority.
A recent probe into the multibillion scandal has seen three KEMSA bosses suspended pending investigations.
The suspended CEO Jonah Manjari, on Wednesday, November 18, was put on the spot by the National Assembly’s Public Investment Committee (PIC). The committee sought to determine how KEMSA got to award tenders to questionable companies.
Manjari noted that the tenders had been issued to companies that requested them initially. He however admitted that the authority did not carry out mandatory background checks to ascertain the companies' technical and financial capabilities
