THE STANDARD
POLITICS
Jubilee Party Vice Chairman David Murathe when he appeared before the Public Investment Committee at County Hall, Nairobi over his link to a company that got a tender worth Sh4 billion in the KEMSA scandal.[David Njaaga, Standard]
Jubilee Vice Chairman David Murathe has denied any involvement in the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency scandal.
Appearing before the National Assembly s Public Investment Committee, Murathe said it was unfair for him to be tagged a covid billionaire yet he had nothing to do with what happened at Kemsa.
An agitated Murathe told committee members said all he did was to facilitate a friend to do business acting as their bank guarantor.
THE STANDARD
POLITICS
Jubilee Party vice-chairman David Murathe. [Courtesy]
President Uhuru Kenyatta s ally David Murathe has promised to spill the beans on the probe involving a Chinese firm that won a Sh4 billion tender at the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa).
A day after members of the National Assembly Public Investment Committee (PIC) linked him to Kilig Ltd, a firm under investigation in the Sh7.8 billion Kemsa procurement scam for Personal Protection Equipment (PPEs) to mitigate against Covid-19 pandemic, Murathe is fighting back.
On Friday, he told The Saturday Standard he will appear before the Abdulswamad Nassir-led committee to clarify his alleged involvement with the company that he was just a guarantor and did not get the contract.
Murathe Admits Role in KEMSA s Multibillion Tender
Jubilee Vice Chairman David Murathe in an interview with K24 in 2019
File
Jubilee Vice-Chairman David, Murathe admitted that he played a role in helping a firm secure Ksh4 billion tender in the multi-billion Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) scandal.
Murathe - in a sworn affidavit written to the MPs investigating the case - said that he was a signatory to Kilig Limited s bank accounts. Kilig, which was alleged to have been formed two months prior to the tender process, sub-contracted another firm called Entec Technology Limited to supply Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs). Kilig Ltd and Entec only requested me to be a signatory to Kilig Limited bank accounts to guarantee that Entec as the supplier of PPE kits would be paid upon KEMSA affecting the anticipated payment on completion of the procurement process and I obliged.
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The year 2020 will go into the annals of history as one riddled with high-profile financial scandals amid efforts to tame the Covid-19 pandemic.
On top of the list of graft-hit parastatals is the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa), through which the taxpayer lost billions after the national drugs supplier inflated the prices of Covid-19 personal protective equipment (PPE).
The scandal left Kemsa holding Sh3 billion worth of dead stock. And while, ironically, there is still need for more PPE across the country, the Kemsa stock is so inflated no one is willing to buy it.
Senior officials at Kemsa reportedly increased the prices of PPE by a whopping Sh7.8 billion as the coronavirus raged.