President Uhuru Kenyatta has appointed the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) board chairman Kembi Gitura to the Communication Authority of Kenya board as the new head.
Gitura, who is also the immediate former Murang’a Senator, will chair the CA board for a period of three years and is set to begin on April 18, 2021.
The appointment comes amid the probe of a scandal involving award of tenders for Covid-19 materials at Kemsa.
Gitura has been the chair of KEMSA board for close to two years, a period that was marred with allegations of corruption and fraud.
The one term Muranga senator is expected to head a new CA board whose mandate is yet to be made public.
According to the CA's acting Chief Executive Edward Njoroge, details of the new board and its mandate are yet to be availed.
During his appearance before the Public Investment committee on August 2020, Gitura maintained that KEMSA had not lost any money.
However, he later suspended three top officials including Chief Executive Officer, Jonah Manjari, Director of Procurement Charles Juma and Commercial Director Edward Mureithi in August 2020.
When Manjari appeared before the PIC the awarding of the Ksh7.6 billion Covid-19 related tenders was influenced by some of the KEMSA officials.
Tender winners in the alleged scandal have continued to surprise taxpayers with details of how easy it was to secure the deals.
One director of a company that was awarded a Ksh4 billion contract for Covid-19 emergency equipment claims on March, 11 said that she could not recall the signatories to the firm’s bank accounts.
“I need more time to go back to the bank and get the right information. I cannot remember who the signatories were because there was a joint venture for procurement of Covid-19 items. Give me two days to find out the bank signatories,” Ivy Minyow Onyango told the probing committee.
