Ruling Jubilee party Vice Chairman Mr. David Murathe was grilled by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) today regarding his involvement with the KEMSA Corruption scandal. The Jubilee Party vice chairman arrived at the EACC headquarters in Nairobi aboard his state of the art Toyota Parado dressed in a baseball cap with cigarettes in hand. On the way to the EACC offices, he insulted the members of the press and paparazi that was trailing him for comment.
David Murathe is implicated in the massive Kemsa corruption scandal that was flung into the public domain by an exposé by NTV’s Dennis Okari program titled Covid Millionaires. Daivid Murathe is thought of siphoning the pandemic money via a contract tender to supply KEMSA with 450,000 of Full PPE and N95 masks at a double price per item what was the going market price at the time.
Each full PPE kit was going for Ksh. 4,500 but Mr. Murathe colluded with KEMSA officials to charge Ksh. 9,000 per full kit of PPE. David Murathe used a company called Kilig Limited to swindle the money meant to purchase the live-saving equipment to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
During a recent interview at a local TV station, David Murathe attempted to deflect blame by saying that he had sold the company to Deputy President William Ruto’s allies. However sources at the EACC allege that Mr. Murathe was and is still affiliated with the Kilig Limited company.
Even if hypothetically he had indeed sold the company, he can still be prosecuted since his actions at the time was illegal and the sale do not absolve him of wrong doing for previous crimes.
EACC detectives are also investigating how huge sums of money was withdrawn from Kilig Limited’s account less than 24 hours after it was deposited. Mr. David Murathe in his defense has denied all allegations so far and wants his day in court to proof his innocence.
The corruption at Kemsa involves the allocation of Covid-19 tenders to some shady companies to provide the Kemri and the Ministry of Health with PPE equipment and supplies in its effort to fight the scourge of Covid-19. These said companies grossly exaggerated the price of the supplies and PPE equipment needed by Kemsa.
Kemsa went ahead and placed orders with these companies despite the obvious misrepresentations on the quotes submitted for approval. Below is a list of companies that Kemsa awarded the contract to supply the Covid-19 supplies but did so at exaggerated prices.
