A Kenyan lady who was identified as Zubeda Nyamulendo shocked many after stating that she got a multi-million deal after casually walking into the offices of Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) last year.
Zubeda Nyamulendo who is the Director at Aszure Commercial Services, told the Public Investment Committee that is chaired by Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir that Kemsa gave her a deal worth Sh. 350 million to supply Covid-19 protective masks.
During the hearing, Zubeda was unable to name who the account signatories in the account were. Ms. Zubeda, it was revealed, had never supplied any item to any government offices or departments before. It was also revealed that she had made her way to Kemsa like an ordinary passerby. She did not have any request or invite to be there.
This is the latest beneficiary of what has been termed as the Covid-19 heist in Kenya. Late last year, James Njuguna has shocked Kenyans after revealing that he got nearly Sh. 200 million tender from KEMSA to supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) while passing by the same offices.
Njuguna who was also testifying before a House committee, said that he got the tender through sheer luck. The director of La Miguela Holdings Limited said he happened to be passing by the authority headquarters where he spotted many people lining up and became curious as to what was happening. “I went straight to the receptionist who advised me not to waste time and apply for the tenders which were being flaunted. I quickly penned off a two-sentence letter and after two hours I was told I had succeeded and asked to collect the commitment letter from the Chief executive Officer’s office,” Njuguna said.
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A report by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in 2020 on the procurement scandal at KEMSA revealed that Sh. 2.3 billion was lost in procuring Covid-19 medical supplies.
“The procurement process was not initiated based on need assessment and planning resulting in over-procurement of Covid-19 related stock worth Sh. 6.3b that is still being held at KEMSA warehouses. 97 per cent of the stock has been in the Kemsa warehouses for more than three months implying inadequate market forecasting and planning practices. The items were procured at a higher price as compared to the current market pricing implying that KEMSA may realize a loss of Sh. 2,338,261,175 if the products are to be sold at the current market price,” Ms. Gathungu reported.
