Running On The Empty: Here Is Why KEMRI Is Broke

That Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) is broke when the other day some people were defending why they had to take tea and snacks worth 4,000,000 shillings makes my head spin.

The National Treasury claimed that it had allocated and released 40 billion shillings to help in the fight against the deadly Covid-19. Of the 40 billion shillings, how much went to KEMRI? Apparently, zero. Sufuri. Nunge. Yai.

How can KEMRI be broke at this time? Why is the government not surprised that KEMRI is broke? Between equipping KEMRI and buying tea, our great men and women would rather buy tea and snacks. Maybe tea is a great component in the fight against Covid-19.

KEMRI is looking for a total of 950 million shillings to hire additional personnel, buy equipment, and run other services. Currently, the agency says it has a shortage of Coronavirus testing reagents as well as screening materials. It is asking for 540 million shillings.

The government gave KEMRI a go-ahead to hire 62 scientists to help in the fight against Covid-19 through research. They were not given funds for the same. The agency needs 100 million shillings to make this happen.

KEMRI is also seeking to buy N95 face masks and other protective gear. It says its employees who come in contact with Covid-19 samples are at risk of contracting the virus due to a lack of protective gear.

KEMRI Director-General Yeri Kombe has written to the National Assembly saying the 158 million shillings given to the agency by the government has already been exhausted and that they were now running on the empty.

According to the KEMRI boss, the government should move with speed and bail them out or soon everything will come to a standstill and the war against Covid-19 will be lost given that KEMRI is a major player in testing and determining the results.

I think it is time for CS Mutahi Kagwe to rethink his daily summons on the pandemic and focus on addressing the issue of KEMRI or soon he will have no data to read and deliver riot acts to Kenyans.

The country has now been thrown into a political frenzy. It is now about the house of cards, which is Jubilee and its noisy, messy, and casualtistic relationship. As a country made of people with the shortest memory ever, we shall soon “forget” about Covid-19 and KEMRI and focus on what “matters the most”; politics.

In a country with reasonable leaders, KEMRI would not be broke in the first place. This is the first institution that should have all the funds necessary during this time.

READ: Kenyans Decry Ksh.4 Million Spent In Tea, Snacks By CS Kagwe Ministry