Anti-corruption Officials Raid KEMSA Offices

Graft cases have become common news items in the local Kenyan mainstream media. From governors to parastatals, and now to Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA).

However, the anti-corruption commission seems to have advanced its tactics of dealing with corrupt officials following the impromptu visit and investigations at KEMSA headquarters yesterday.

Anticorruption detectives ambushed KEMSA on Wednesday, September 9, 2020, and took close to seven hours combing the place for clues that could help unravel the Covid-19 supplies scandal.

The move by the anti-graft sleuths came after KEMSA failed to submit details of people who won the compromised Covid-19 tenders and pocketed billions of taxpayers’ money.

 The 7-hour investigation at halted any movements of staff or visitors in and out of the premises. The entry at Gate C which is normally used by the staff was closed immediately the detectives got into the building at 7.am.

Information about the incident indicated that the anti-corruption officials went directly to CEO Edward Njoroge Njuguna’s office, where major investigations were done.

The detectives ended the operations at exactly 1.20 pm, drove away in a motorcade of two land cruisers, and a van that carried electronic data, computers, and documents that will assist in their ongoing investigations in the company of Mr. Njuguna.

Wednesday’s detective operations at KEMSA came a day after the suspended CEO, Mr. Jonah Mwangi, KEMSA chairman Kembi Githura and other three board members were drilled at the commission’s headquarters in Nairobi for over seven hours on the procurement of drugs in the war against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The commission is racing against the remaining one week to table preliminary reports on the misappropriation of funds at KEMSA. Parliament is also conducting a parallel investigation into the probe.

The past few days have exposed how officials in the agency dished out tenders to mysterious entities under the umbrella of the Covid-19 pandemic, putting the lives of ordinary Kenyans at risk.

Kenyans are waiting to see whether the new tactics and efforts placed by the anti-corruption commission will yield fruits and bring the corrupt leaders to book.