Kibwezi Member of Parliament Mwengi Mutuse included bullying of Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) officials as one of the 11 allegations against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, citing it as gross misconduct.
Mutuse in his motion alleged that “Gachagua had demonstrated a persistent habit of coercing and bullying state and public officers in the security services, whom he subjects to public attacks and humiliation.”
The lawmaker further claims that Gachagua summons staff from ministries and state institutions, particularly procurement officers, instructing them to manage the procurement of goods and services in a specific manner.
He asserts that the Deputy President pressured officials at KEMSA to award a tender for the supply of mosquito nets to Crystal Limited, a company he describes as Gachagua’s proxy.
Additionally, Mutuse alleges that Crystal Limited submitted a fake bid bond with the intent of fraudulently acquiring public property.
Andrew Mulwa accusing Gachagua
Former acting Chief Executive Officer of KEMSA Andrew Mulwa in his sworn affidavit, argues that the Deputy President allegedly influenced the award of the Ksh3.7 billion malaria nets tender.
He claims that the DP called him around July 11, 2023, and instructed him to hand over the original bid bond submitted by a company for the tender to his agent.
“As a junior official, there was nothing I could do against a deputy president,’’ Mulwa says in his sworn affidavit.
However, Gachagua had earlier clarified that the company at the centre of the issue, Shobika Impex Limited, had appointed Crystal Kenya as their local agent to handle logistical tasks and monitor supplies at the ports of entry.
Gachagua emphasised that the tendering process was carried out by Shobika, not Crystal Kenya.
When the tender did not succeed, his son contacted the KEMSA to enquire about the status of the bid bond on behalf of Crystal Kenya.
The deputy president admitted that he personally contacted the authority after learning that Ksh. 500 million had been paid as a bid bond and was being held up.
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KEMSA Malaria Nets Tender Saga
The procurement of mosquito nets was a long and winding journey involving the Ministry of Health, the National Treasury, KEMSA, and the Global Fund, which served as the sponsor.
The saga dates back to November 2022 when the National Treasury requested the medical Agency to procure 12.6 million treated mosquito nets for the government.
However, it soon became evident that the available finances would not suffice for the required quantity. In January 2023, the Treasury advised KEMSA to reduce the quantity to 10.2 million nets.
Consequently, at the end of January 2023, KEMSA launched the international open tender for the nets, setting a deadline for February 23.
Just two days before the closing of the tender, Public Health and Professional Standards Principal Secretary Josephine Mburu wrote to KEMSA, calling for corrections to inconsistencies in the specifications of the required nets.
The following day, KEMSA communicated to the Global Fund that it would extend the bidding period by two weeks to March 10, allowing bidders time to revise their applications.
However, on February 24, a day after the initial deadline, the National Treasury wrote back to KEMSA, overruling PS Mburu’s directive to correct the tender document. Despite this reversal, the tender bidding period remained the same.
By the end of that day, KEMSA had received and evaluated 17 bids. The authority’s 10-day evaluation committee submitted its report on April 6, stating that 11 companies were unresponsive and did not qualify, while five were cleared to proceed to the next stage. Ultimately, KEMSA settled on two companies, Patek East Africa and Shubika Impex.
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Global Fund Cancels the Tender
However, it was revealed that the Global Fund took away the tender to procure over 10 million treated mosquito nets, citing inconsistent evaluation of tenders that resulted in no bidders qualifying to supply.
KEMSA initially assessed and found two companies, Shobikaa Impex and Patek East Africa Limited, fit to supply mosquito nets.
Yet, the Global Fund maintained that these companies failed to meet mandatory requirements and should not have progressed to the technical, financial, and post-qualification phases.
The fund reviewed KEMSA’s decisions and found that only two companies should have advanced from the first phase, and those were not the ones chosen by KEMSA.
Upon full assessment, none of the 17 bidders passed the sample evaluation, meaning none should supply anything to Kenya Medical Supply Agency.
On April 25, the Global Fund documented its cancellation of the entire process, declaring that the procurement would instead be handled by Wombo.org, its procurement arm.
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