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{
    "id": 1567988,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1567988/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 167,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Navakholo, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Emmanuel Wangwe",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The other agency we looked at was the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), specifically on issues to do with staff costs. The Committee observed that a similar audit query had been raised in the 2016/2017 Financial Year. Our current observations are as follows: The Board had approved an establishment of 341 staff and, in the 2017/2018 Financial Year, KEMSA had 329 in-post staff after receiving 40 more in the 2016/2017 Financial Year. The in-post figure stood at 324 against an expected staff figure of 369 if no staff had exited. However, KEMSA did not provide any documentary proof that 45 staff members had exited KEMSA during the 2017/2018 Financial Year either through retirement, natural attrition, dismissal or resignation. That could lead to the existence of ghost workers. We came up with the recommendation that within three months of the adoption of this Report, the Auditor-General should carry out a comprehensive special audit on the staff and payroll of KEMSA for a period of five years, from the 2017/2018 Financial Year to the 2021/2022 Financial Year, both years inclusive, to establish the status of staffing and report its findings to the National Assembly. Should the Report establish any irregularities, the then accounting officers should be reprimanded and held accountable for any financial losses during their tenure. Hon. Speaker, we also picked up on issues relating to expired drugs. A similar issue which recurs year-in, year-out, was cited by the PIC in the 2016/2017 Financial Year and discussed in the 22nd Report. However, our Committee notes as follows: 1. The expiry of drugs was not due to a breach of contractual terms but due to changes in drug regimens, indicating poor planning by KEMSA. The authority should ordinarily be aware of which drugs are obsolete and which ones will be introduced into the market. KEMSA has the ability to know when a drug is about to expire, but they decided to have just one way of disbursing drugs and no other. Rigidity in decision-making led to the Authority having a huge stock of expired drugs. KEMSA could not even donate drugs which were about to expire to needy institutions but, instead, chose to stick to one way. The opinion of the Committee was that KEMSA needs to be versatile and observe that likely challenge. 2. KEMSA indicated that they had devised strategies to determine the demand for drugs across the counties, which included constant engagement and collecting data to avoid the expiry of drugs, as well as other strategies such as prioritising the shelf life of drugs. Therefore, the Committee recommended that the accounting officer should be reprimanded for laxity in minimising the wastage of public funds through procurement and The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}