This archive report was first published on 4 August 2020.
Published on August 4, 2020, a report by the Nation revealed a bitter turf war between the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) and the National Influenza Centre over Covid-19 billions.
The fight for the funds escalated when it emerged that Kemri was running broke, while the National Influenza Centre was receiving the bulk of the money.
As a result, Kemri delayed results to the Ministry of Health, almost costing its top researcher, Dr Joel Lutomiah, his job. Instead, he was demoted.
The sibling rivalry eventually reached the doorstep of Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, who was having problems of his own with his accounting officer, Principal Secretary Susan Mochache.
However, the two eventually ironed out their differences, and more money flowed into the ministry's coffers.
The fight for Covid-19 billions has now shifted to higher ground, with Afya House, the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa), and the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) at the center of the dispute.
At the heart of the fight is a confidential report by Kebs, which found that some locally manufactured PPEs had failed the liquid penetration test.
However, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe believes that some individuals who imported PPEs and are stuck with them in warehouses want to muddy the waters for local manufacturers so that they lock them out.
Mr Kagwe said local manufacturers have brought down the cost of PPE kits to about Sh4,300, compared to the Sh15,000 the government has been buying from importers.
He also revealed that he secretly removed labels from personal protective equipment (PPEs) imported from China and privately sent them to official government labs at Kebs for testing.
The results shocked him after the masks miserably failed the liquid penetration test. He also sent from the same batch, the same PPEs but this time with labels. They passed with flying colours.
When questioned about the matter, Mr Kagwe said, 'When I sensed that there was something going on, I removed labels from China PPEs and took them to Kebs, and they failed miserably and this was only after the label was removed.'
Mr Kagwe believes that some individuals who imported PPEs and are stuck with them in warehouses want to muddy the waters for local manufacturers so that they lock them out.
He also accused the billionaire importers of orchestrating a smear campaign to destroy the local industry.
People familiar with the intrigues told the Nation that the samples were collected from Nyandarua County in the 1,000 batch donated by the Health ministry officials who visited the region sometime this month.
