This archive report was first published on 20 June 2020.
June 20, 2020
Kenya's Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is investigating two separate theft reports relating to donated Covid-19 equipment.
According to Director of Investigations John Kariuki, a team of detectives from the DCI's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) office is looking into the cases.
“Those are being handled by the JKIA office, but I’m not aware of how far investigations have gone,” Mr Kariuki said.
One of the consignments was donated by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, who had made a similar philanthropic gesture in other African countries.
Ma’s care package had 100,000 face masks and 20,000 testing kits, which arrived at JKIA on March 24.
However, the equipment has gone missing, leaving the government with over 5,000 samples that are yet to be tested due to the global shortage of testing materials.
Health Director-General Patrick Amoth acknowledged that the country has been experiencing a shortage of test kits, but said the ministry had received a batch that would last the country four weeks.
“It is always dangerous to have a backlog, because if a sample tests positive and the person was roaming for weeks without knowing their results, the risk of transmission is high, hence a tedious process in reaching all the contact persons,” Dr Amoth said.
Healthcare workers have also been complaining that they do not have enough personal protective equipment, a situation that is putting their lives at risk.
The second donation, from the Chinese government, arrived on April 20 at the same aerodrome.
Local media have reported that Ministry of Health officials allegedly colluded with local and Chinese businessmen to steal the consignment, with some of the suspected individuals managing to escape arrest last week.
