Suspended Kemsa Managing Director (MD) Jonah Manjari struggled to answer questions regarding the Covid-19 scandal fielded by the Public Investments Committee of the National Assembly on November 25.
Led by Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir, the legislators grilled Manjari for hours about the process and correspondence during the issuance of Personal Protective Equipment tenders that have left the agency reeling from corruption allegations.
"The commitment letters presented before us were done in your office," Ruaraka MP T.J Kajwang questioned.
"The memo that you have is not correct, I m not aware of it," the underfire MD responded.
He went on to disown the documents used to make the controversial purchases, and as the hearing got heated he asked that the media be ordered to leave the room.
The committee obliged and the media was pushed out for about 2 hours, during which he is said to have shared damning information.
Once the cameras were back, Manjari could be seen fidgeting with his pen as Abdulswamad questioned why the MD reportdly continued signing commitment letters despite clear instructions to stop.
"I have even gone ahead and shown you your own internal meeting which you confirmed that you chaired and signed, which says that since you had already reached Ksh5.5 billion worth of commitment letter, 'let us not do any more commitment letters'...but more letters were signed," the Mvita MP stated.
On his part, the stuttering MD maintained that he had no recollection of the memo and claimed that they were not prepared in his office.
At this point, Kajwang interjected and claimed that the committee had information that the commitment letters were solely handled by Manjari.
Manjari insisted that he was under pressure from various quarters to the extent he was sidelined in communication at some point.
The MD further revealed that suppliers queued at Kemsa offices for the commitment letters, some of whom he claimed to have been board members.
When Health PS Susan Mochache appeared before the committee last week, she said Kemsa's top management spent Ksh5.1 billion without her approval.
She further claimed that a meeting held on March 18 resolved that the ministry would buy 25,000 PPEs, 10,000 KN95 face masks and 6,000 Covid-19 testing kits.
However, Kemsa is said to have procured 126,000 PPEs, 1.6 million KN95 face masks, 9,900 N95 face masks, 5,000 N95 (1860) face masks and 21,646 infrared thermometers among a list of other unauthorized items.
Watch a short clip of Manjari's interrogation below:
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