The Ministry of Health has been rocked by another corruption scandal, where rogue Government officials and a Chinese firm attempted to steal a consignment of donations from China.
The donation of an assortment of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was worth around Ksh 20 million.
The consignment arrived at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi aboard a China-South Airlines on Monday, April 20th.
Festus Odhiambo, an employee of Song Hong Kenya Logistics Limited moved with speed and arrived at the airport to clear the consignment from China.
Odhiambo was armed with a letter from a private company dubbed Fasomo Limited which claimed to be the importer of the consignment and paid a deposit of Ksh130,000.
But in a twist of events, the Government of Kenya’s clearing agency also arrived at the airport as the rightful custodians of the donation.
Eight days later after the incident, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs drafted a memo to the Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe to account for the missing donations.
In the memo, Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Raychelle Omamo, noted that the numbers from the Health Ministry appeared to be inconsistent with the donation tally.
On Tuesday, May 12th, the Foreign Affairs Ministry indicated in its handle that the PS, Macharia Kamau, handed over donations to the Ministry of Health.
“Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Macharia Kamau also presented to the Ministry of Health 6,000 N95 respirators, 500 pieces of isolation gowns, 3,000 surgical face masks, 500 surgical protective suits, 40 thermometers and 85,000 face masks from the Kenyan Embassy in Beijing,” read a post from Ministry of Health.
On May 12th, the office of Ambassador Kamau wrote to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) asking them to investigate into some missing medical consignment from China.
A multi-agency team led by DCI officers from the Special Service United (SSU) foiled the plot to steal the donation and handed over the donation to the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA).
Speaking on the daring theft yesterday, Kagwe gave little away noting that the long arm of the law will catch up with them.
“These are thieves, and I can’t speak for them because I would assume that the law is going to take its cause and we are going to have them arrested,” stated Kagwe.
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