Nyong'o says Kemsa in rude health

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Medical Services minister Anyang' Nyong'o during a press conference at Afya House in Nairobi, June 15, 2011. Prof Nyong'o rebutted claims that his Ministry squandered money meant for the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency. STEPHEN MUDIARI

By AGGREY MUTAMBO amutambo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Wednesday, June 15 2011 at 14:12

The Ministry of Medical Services has rebutted claims that it squandered money meant for the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency.

On Wednesday, Medical Services minister Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o told reporters that contrary to claims that Kemsa was underfunded plunging it into huge bills, the agency in fact has no debt to pay.

“There is no case of pending bills in Kemsa. The agency is using money in an appropriate way and all these reports of misappropriation are simply a lie,” he said.

On Monday, a forensic audit report revealed that in 2007/08, Medical Services Ministry gave Kemsa Sh0.8 billion instead of the required Sh2.9 billion.

As a result, the agency could not pay pharmaceutical companies that supplied public hospitals with drugs leading to a debt of Sh1, 646,332,693.

According to Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta, the audit showed how the Ministry failed to transfer all the monies the agency needed to perform its functions.

But while Prof Nyong’o admitted the agency had had such a debt, he said it was cleared two years ago.

“It is true the a pending bill was incurred during the financial year 2007/08, the Treasury availed (the money) through the Ministry of Medical Services and the bill were cleared by 30th April, 2009.”

Based on Prof Nyong’o’s version, the debt did not result from underfunding.

Kemsa then had procured commodities worth Sh3.27 billion. However, the then Ministry of Health could only afford Sh1.6 billion, which it granted to Kemsa.

He accused Mr Kenyatta of not involving him before making the report public.

“He should have said whether he was referring to history and why it was being revisited. He had no courtesy to call me to clarify issues.”

The forensic report also highlights weaknesses in the internal control framework, transparency accountability and governance mechanisms at Kemsa and failure to adhere to the statutory procurement procedures.

Mr Kenyatta said though the pending bills audit report on the Ministry of Medical Services was concluded and forwarded to the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission in 2008, the pace of investigations has been slow.

On Tuesday, Kacc director PLO Lumumba admitted receiving the information but blamed the police for not initiating prosecution.

“The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission does not prosecute under the laws of Kenya. It only investigates” he said.

Kemsa is a government agency that procures medical commodities for the Ministries of Health and Medical Services.

It is mandated to supply drugs and other items to over 4,000 public health facilities in the country.

But under circumstances of stiff procurement rules, public health hospitals have often ran short on drugs.