Transport Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) for Transport Chris Obure has revealed that some donations from Chinese philanthropist Jack Ma did not arrive in Kenya.
Appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Health, the CAS said that 21 packages of assorted medical supplies did not land in Nairobi from Ethiopia.
Mr Obure further disclosed that his ministry was not aware the specific supplies that went missing.
He also clarified that it was after verifying with parking documents from China, that they realized that some supplies were missing.
“We realized that 21 packages were short delivered, I assure you we will continue to pursue the matter with the Ministry of Health to ensure they are delivered.
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“Personally I did speak to top officials of the Ministry of Health and they confirmed to me that they are pursuing the matter,” he told the Sabina Chege-led committee.
On Wednesday, officials from the Ministry of Transport were hard-pressed to explain the ministry’s role in the clearing of Jack Ma Foundation donations that arrived in the country in March.
Obure, found it hard to convince the committee as he was accused of lacking facts regarding the clearing of the consignment.
Consequently, the representative from the ministry and his team were sent away to “prepare well” before appearing before the committee today (Thursday).
The CAS had told the committee that all the donations were cleared exclusively by the government clearing agency.
Read Also: Transport Ministry Officials Sent Away By Parliament Committee For Lack Of Facts On Jack Ma Donation
In his submissions, Obure said ground handling and storage services for donations was provided by Kenya Airways.
Consignment of COVID-19 detection kits arrived in the country on March 24, 2020, and was released on the same day to KEMRI,” he said.
“It was collected from the Kenya Airways warehouse by a senior official of the Ministry of Health, Dr Isabella Ayaga.”
However, Ms Chege found the information too general to help the committee in its probe regarding alleged fraud in the handling of the donation.
“The document before us from the ministry is not well prepared. We need to compare what was donated, what was received and what actually ended up in the warehouse,” the Murang’a county woman representative said.
“If we have these gaps you will keep Kenyans guessing. We will see you tomorrow at 9:30am on Thursday.”
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