Former Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakumincha has broken her silence on the alleged scandal involving former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and his role in the Ksh3.7 billion Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) tender.
Nakhumicha, who has been nominated as Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN-Habitat, appeared before the National Assembly’s Defence, Intelligence, and Foreign Relations Committee on Monday, where she answered some pressing questions regarding her tenure in the Health docket.
During the session, Belgut MP Nelson Koech directly asked the former CS about her role in the alleged interference in the KEMSA tender for mosquito nets worth Ksh3.7 billion.
In response, Nakumincha denied any knowledge of the scandal, insisting she only learnt of it like the rest of Kenyans when charges against Gachagua went viral.
“With the information that I was given, his involvement was not there. I got to learn of his involvement when the House was going through the impeachment process. That is how I got to learn that most likely he had been,” the former CS told the parliamentary committee.
Gachagua, who was impeached from the Deputy President’s office in October 2024, had been accused of influencing the deal to have the tender floated to two companies linked to his sons.
Nakumincha also appeared to acquit the former DP of any wrongdoing, as she further claimed that there was no information that suggested Gachagua was involved in the tendering process.
She further claimed that by the time charges against Gachagua were brought forth in Parliament, her tenure as CS had already come to an end.
In the wake of the allegations against Gachagua, the former DP denied them in a televised interview, labelling them as ‘ridiculous and baseless.’
“Where was the Deputy President involved in a tender? This is a tender that never was. For the record, the suspected officers were exonerated,” Gachagua said in October amid an intense battle to retain his DP seat.
The former DP at the time claimed that there was an open investigation into the alleged tender, where several key individuals were exonerated of any wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, Nakumincha, despite denying knowledge about Gachagua’s accusations in the KEMSA scandal, admitted to some shortcomings during her tenure as Health CS, including her failure to adequately address the 56-day doctors’ strike.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE