The Global Fund on Tuesday, May 9, put the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) on the spot over a Ksh3.7 billion mosquito nets tender.
The United Nations-backed agency based in Geneva, Switzerland, called out KEMSA for an irregular procurement process.
10.2 million mosquito nets were to be distributed across the country from July 2023 to November 2024 if the tender process was successful.
Three out of five companies that placed bids for the tender were qualified by KEMSA while two were disqualified.
However, the Global Fund found that the two disqualified companies were actually qualified and that the three which had been qualified had improper bids.
The tender process was flagged because the tender committee seemed to be siding with some of the bidders.
Consequently, the Global Fund signalled they would repeat the procurement process, thus, denying the government nearly Ksh370 million in revenue as fees for conducting the tender and warehousing the goods.
On March 11, 2022, the Global Fund uncovered another scandal at the medical supplies agency.
KEMSA could not explain the location of three batches of tuberculosis (TB) medicine worth Ksh10 million.
Additionally, 1.1 million condoms and 908,000 mosquito nets were missing.
According to the Global Fund, Kenya is a donor to the Global Fund and an implementer of Global Fund-supported programmes.
So far, Kenya has contributed over Ksh1.5 billion to the fund.
