Stop the cartels eyeing Covid-19 special kitty

President Uhuru Kenyatta must live up to his pledge on auditing the coronavirus billions.

As he stated Friday, every cent and every shilling must be accounted for. The campaign to contain the spread of Covid-19 is at risk because of financial mismanagement.

On the spot is the Health ministry, which must give proper account and justification of how it spends cash earmarked for the crisis.

This week, the ministry drew public outrage when it presented a document in Parliament accounting for Sh1.3 billion sourced from the World Bank.

The money was meant for testing, treatment and care of those infected by the disease. However, what transpired was that a large chunk of the cash was used on non-essential items like tea and snacks, air time, printing and accommodation of Ministry of Health employees.

Moreover, large sums were spent on hiring ambulances yet the ministry and counties have fleets of ambulances. The question is: are these priorities in curbing the spread and management of the virus?

Cumulatively, the spending illustrates the way coronavirus funds are being misused and it is likely to get worse as more cash comes in.

To be sure, Parliament has approved a Sh40 billion supplementary budget for the pandemic. The Covid-19 Emergency Fund Board has also received tidy sums of donations and by midweek the figure was more than Sh2 billion.

At the same time, there are wrangles over managing the money. Already, there is a tussle between two government agencies to control the coronavirus billions.

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) and the National Influenza Centre are at loggerheads over who should control some Sh6 billion from the World Bank.

But this is hardly surprising. It just shows there are individuals scheming to steal the money.

Ironically, in the midst of the misplaced expenditures and disputes, programmes aimed at containing the pandemic are stalling.

Health workers are complaining about lack of personal protective equipment, and the Health ministry has itself admitted that because it lacks kits, it cannot intensify mass testing.

Put together, we face serious danger of losing the cash through pilferage and wasteful spending. Health CS Mutahi Kagwe has done a good job rallying the public to control infections; now he must deal with the dragon of theft of public finances.

Based on President Kenyatta’s commitment, the audit should be continuous. It should not wait until the crisis is over; that might be too late.