Covid-19 Equipment Donated to Kenya by Chinese Billionaire Jack Ma Missing

The government has admitted that some of the Covid-19 equipment donated by Chinese billionaire and philanthropist Jack Ma to Kenya in March are missing.

Transport Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Chris Obure told the National Assembly Health Committee that 21 Covid-19 equipment packages donated by Ma did not arrive in the country from Ethiopia.

All Covid-19 donations by Ma to Africa were sent to Ethiopia from where they were distributed to individual countries including Kenya.

Obure said the 21 packages were missing from the Ethiopian Airlines aircraft that ferried Kenya’s donation to Nairobi from Addis Ababa and have never been traced to date.

“What we were supposed to receive were 697 packages, but when that consignment arrived in the country it had 21 packages less… the 21 packages never arrived in Kenya so that shortfall was in Ethiopia, not here,” he told the House team on Wednesday.

Obure added that the Health Ministry wrote to Ethiopia and Jack Ma Foundation seeking to find the whereabouts of the missing equipment. 

“I assure you we will continue to pursue the matter with the Ministry of Health to ensure they are delivered. Personally, I did speak to top officials of the Ministry of Health and they confirmed to me that they are pursuing the matter,” Obure added.

The revelation came barely two weeks after reports that Covid-19 equipment donated by Ma was hijacked at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) by some senior government officials and sold to Tanzania as well as to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa). Health CS Mutahi Kagwe denied these reports.