President William Ruto of Kenya has dismissed a senior health official and dissolved the entire board of a state agency that supplies medical equipment following a corruption scandal.
The scandal involves a botched deal to supply treated bed nets worth $27m (£21.5m) that were donated by the Global Fund to prevent malaria infections.
The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) was supposed to distribute more than 10 million nets to poor households in about half of the country’s regions that are prone to malaria.
But the Global Fund cancelled the deal, accusing Kemsa of irregularities by allegedly giving preference to one company that did not meet the requirements and excluding others unfairly.
This is not the first time that Kemsa has been accused of misusing funds. In 2020, it faced allegations of embezzling millions of dollars meant for buying personal protective equipment and other essential health facilities during the Covid pandemic.
