Just one month after it was registered, Shop ‘N’ Buy was among the companies that won multi-billion tenders from the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA).
Shop ‘N’ Buy was registered on February 14 with James Cheluley listed as the sole director for the firm.
A day after Cheluley visited KEMSA and asked to supply the agency with PPEs in the wake of Covid-19, the firm was awarded a Ksh1 billion tender.
Appearing before the Senate Health Committee, Cheluley said that he had not done any business with KEMSA before.
He says that he learned that the agency needed the items through other firms his Shop ‘N’ Buy’ company had been supplying.
Without signing any contract or negotiations, Cheluley through his company supplied the equipment worth Ksh970 million, and has never been paid to date.
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“Can you walk us through how you did it, registered a company and in less than a month you supplied goods worth millions of shillings because we have millions of young Kenyans who will register their company today and it will take them at least 10 years to win any tender or supply anything to any company,” Narok Senator Ledama Ole Kina said.
Cheluley says he has been in business for more than 20 years and has built trust with his Chinese supplier.
“There is no magic. I have suppliers who are still waiting for their money from China. What we did is that with the little resources we had between me and other partnering companies, we made a deposit to our supplies in China, who trusted us. In fact, we showed them a commitment letter from Kemsa, which acted as our bond. This enabled us to get the goods,” he explained.
Shop ‘N’ Buy is among 50 companies that received multi-billion tenders from KEMSA, and are being investigated by the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC).
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