The shadowy suppliers of Covid-19 related items to the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency(Kemsa) were listed as the “government’s strategic partners”, earning them preferential treatment in tendering, a review by the public procurement watchdog shows.
The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) said the “government strategic partners” label exempted the firms from traditional stringent vetting—tipping the scale in the race for the lucrative tenders.
