A 40-year-old Kenyan man, Eric Ndungu Mwangi, has been thrust into the global spotlight after investigators in the United States unsealed an indictment linking him to an elaborate scheme that siphoned off medical commodities worth millions from the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), commodities which had been supplied to Kenya under a $650 million (approximately Ksh 84.5 billion) programme funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to strengthen the fight against HIV/AIDS and support other essential health services.
According to the findings of the inquiry, which stretched over several years and required the cooperation of investigators in Kenya, Guyana, and the United States, Mwangi is alleged to have used his company, Linear Diagnostics, to systematically remove HIV test kits and other donor-funded medical products from KEMSA’s supply chain as far back as 2014, before selling them into a shadow market where his co-conspirator, a Guyanese businessman named Davendra Rampersaud, acted as the ready buyer who would then launder the stolen supplies into Guyana’s health sector through fraudulent contracts with the government of his own country.
The investigation, conducted by the Office of the Inspector General at USAID, revealed that Rampersaud, operating through his company Caribbean Medical Supplies Inc., obtained a “Letter of Authority” in 2015 which granted him the appearance of legitimacy and enabled him to clinch a sole-source contract with Guyana’s Ministry of Health, while in reality the products he was supplying had been illegally diverted from Kenya, where they were originally meant to safeguard lives and improve treatment for HIV patients.
Records presented in the indictment show that between 2015 and 2019, Mwangi received more than $177,000 (equivalent to over Ksh22 million) in payments from Rampersaud for commodities that had been stolen from the USAID-funded programme, money that prosecutors say was earned at the expense of vulnerable Kenyan patients who were supposed to benefit from the supplies.
American prosecutors have described the investigation as one of unusual complexity, stretching across continents and requiring years of careful coordination between agencies, while also noting that the scheme placed at risk a vital public health mission in Kenya by draining resources that had been meant to strengthen the country’s ability to fight HIV/AIDS.
Bryan Stirling, the United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina, remarked that the fraudulent dealings not only jeopardized Kenya’s healthcare objectives but also caused heavy losses to American taxpayers who had funded the medical commodities.
Mwangi was arrested by Kenyan authorities in February 2021 on theft and fraud charges linked to the matter, and he is still awaiting trial in Kenya, but the unsealed American indictment means that he also risks exposure to lengthy prison terms of up to 20 years, substantial fines, and supervised release should he eventually be extradited and tried in the United States.
His Guyanese partner in the scheme, Rampersaud, was less fortunate, as he was arrested in January 2023 after landing in Miami on a layover flight and has since pleaded guilty to conspiracy and theft charges before a U.S. federal judge in South Carolina, receiving a sentence of time served, three years of supervised release, and an order to pay $84,000 in penalties.
The case has attracted attention in both Washington and Nairobi because it shows how a Kenyan citizen entrusted with access to life-saving health commodities allegedly exploited that trust for personal profit, creating gaps in Kenya’s already stretched health system, while also raising questions about how such diversion could occur within KEMSA’s supply chain without detection for years.
For now, Mwangi remains in custody awaiting trial, with the presumption of innocence until proven guilty but the indictment unsealed in South Carolina paints a damaging picture of how Kenya’s donor-funded medical programmes can be manipulated for private gain, undermining both national health goals and international trust in Kenya’s capacity to protect vital aid.
