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{
    "id": 1124740,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1124740/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 290,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 407,
        "legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
        "slug": "ledama-olekina"
    },
    "content": "The COVID-19 crisis in this country exposed the MoH and a State corporation which for many years had been operating without any major scandals and got them to start thinking how to create COVID-19 billionaires. Whatever happened during the KEMSA Scandal is something we will regret for the rest of our lives. This is because people went there to put their bellies first instead of lives. They did not care about children in Narok, Trans Nzoia, Mombasa or Samburu who would be exposed to COVID-19. All they cared was how they could get to the procurement. They would then hike the prices of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) which were essential things for preventing Kenyans from contracting the deadly virus. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the days we sat here and listened to both the Board and the Management, I came to believe that there are people who do not value humanity at all. It is only their way or the highway. They believe that the only way to survive in this country is by lining your pocket at the expense of poor Kenyans. During our investigation into this matter of KEMSA, I was shocked that without any budget the KEMSA Board as well as the Management would give people commitment letters. They would then tell them to go ahead and import PPEs worth billions of Kenya shillings at whatever price and promised to pay them when the goods landed here. They had no money because we know what happens. KEMSA being a non- governmental organization (NGO) depends on money given as a budget by the MoH. Once that happens, county governments because of the KEMSA Act put in their requests and end up paying for them. In this case, we know how much that money was. It was not in billions of Kenya Shillings. When it came to COVID-19, there were donations, which were being given which ended up being sold. There was money allocated. They also got an opportunity to tap into the UHC money that was set aside for children in our country who have never had a chance to get any medical support so that they could do so. Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is one of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four Agenda. This - hypocritically - is what we are pushing so fast to pass National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) Bill so that at least people can get access to it. I wonder. The recommendations here are very clear. There are individuals who we found culpable. We found they had already put their finders in the cookie jar. We named individuals in this report which is a public document and anyone out there can get it. We named the former Managing Director (MD) Mr. Jonah Manjari whom we recommend that he be investigated. We also named the legal officers for them to be investigated with possible prosecution and we gave timelines. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I wonder when we take a whole year to adopt a report whether the timelines we gave--- In these recommendations we gave a period of one month for it to be implemented. I will read one of the recommendations we gave. The first one was – 1) That the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) investigate the Chief Executive Officer KEMSA and the Board of management of KEMSA for contravening the following provisions of the law including -"
}