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By GATONYE GATHURA
KENYA: So far five officers from the Ministry of Health have been kicked out of office over the loss of Sh80 million in what Cabinet Secretary James Macharia calls a clear case of theft of public funds.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Macharia said the ministry had ilaunched investigations as soon as the alleged fraud was detected in May and three officers suspended by June.
“Contrary to the impression created by the media that action was only taken after pressure was exerted by donors, the Ministry of Health swung into action swiftly, inviting the Criminal Investigations Department to look into the issue. Internally, we suspended three officers immediately,” said Mr Macharia.
On July 31, the Ministry’s Principal Secretary Fred Segor had asked two senior officers responsible for the sections which had lost the money to vacate the offices and report to the Director of Medical Services not later than August 2 for redeployment.
“The two, Dr Willis Simon Akhwale, the head Department of Disease Prevention and Control and Dr Chris Wambo Masila, managing the East African Public Health Laboratory Networking Project, have been sent on compulsory leave,” said Mr Macharia.
He said the two were ordered to step aside because as heads of the departments, they must bear responsibility for all its functions and activities.
Mr Macharia said an internal audit is ongoing to ascertain the extent of the theft. The Cabinet Secretary said he will request the Auditor General to carry out a thorough audit of the entire ministry’s departments, including the National Hospital Insurance Fund.
Others who have been suspended in the current case include Dr Jane Wasike, Chief Accountant Philip Olulo and Edward Were. So far, the Flying Squad says it has arrested and charged two individuals in court over the theft. However these two are not employees of the ministry.
The fraud came into light in May when the Kenya Commercial Bank raised a red flag over Sh15,836,400 allegedly transferred from the ministry’s account to a company called City Link Opticians.
Upon enquiry, several other payments from the East African Public Health Laboratory Networking Project amounting to Sh80,923,440 were also found to have been transferred to accounts which the ministry said were fraudulent.
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