The US charges two with theft from USAID Kenya procurement program

The U.S. government charged two men — a Kenyan and a Guyanese — with conspiring to illegally divert USAID-funded global health supplies from the Kenyan government-run Kenya Medical Supplies Authority, or KEMSA. The indictments were a result of an investigation led by the USAID Office of Inspector General. The Kenyan program under examination — worth some $650 million — provided supply chain management for medical supplies used in the care and treatment of people living with HIV — as part of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan on AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, as well as warehousing for family planning, nutrition, and malaria commodities. While the details of the investigation outlined in the court documents are slim — and don’t implicate KEMSA — the case does give greater insight into what was happening behind the scenes during a tense period between the U.S. Agency for International Development — which was dismantled this year — and the Kenyan agency. In the indictment, which was unsealed by the U.S. District Court of South Carolina this week following a yearslong investigation, the U.S. alleges that starting in 2014 Kenyan national Eric Ndungu Mwangi and his company Linear Diagnostics “systematically stole” HIV test kits and other medical supplies intended for KEMSA, and sold them to Guyanese national Davendra Rampersaud and his Guyana-based company, Caribbean Medical Supplies. Between 2015 and 2019, Rampersaud allegedly paid Mwangi over $177,000 for the medical supplies. The court documents don’t outline how the alleged theft took place — simply stating they were “obtained or diverted” — but do note that neither Linear Diagnostics nor Caribbean Medical Supplies has been authorized distributors of the products — which came from a global manufacturer — nor permitted to provide products to KEMSA or the Guyana Ministry of Health. The manufacturer of the product authorizes specific companies in different regions to distribute its products. This is done to ensure proper storage, transportation, and to track the movement of products — ensuring safety and effectiveness. The indictment alleges Rampersaud provided a fraudulent letter saying his company was authorized to distribute the products in Guyana — and then it sold the stolen goods to the Guyana Ministry of Health under a “lucrative, sole-source” contract. Rampersaud’s company also allegedly acquired and sold stolen test kits from a separate USAID program. Kenyan authorities arrested Mwangi on theft and fraud charges in 2021, and he’s awaiting trial in Kenya, and separately faces up to 20 years in prison for the charges in the U.S. In 2023, Rampersaud was arrested during a layover in Miami, then pleaded guilty to conspiracy and stealing health commodities. He received credit for time served, three years of supervised release, and was fined $84,000. “This case exemplifies the commitment, expertise, and creativity of USAID OIG investigators,” said USAID OIG’s Acting Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Laura Rousseau in a statement. “Through complex undercover work spanning continents, including an arrest executed at a moment’s notice, we exposed a scheme to steal and divert life-saving health commodities from what was then the largest USAID government-to-government award in the world.” These charges follow a trail of tensions between the U.S. government and the Kenyan agency, which serves as a medical logistics authority. In 2021, a five-year contract came to an end between USAID and KEMSA. Rather than renewing with the Kenyan agency, the U.S. decided to use the American company, Chemonics, and a consortium of partners, to procure HIV, malaria, and family planning commodities for Kenya. Civil society organizations in Kenya speculated at the time that USAID decided not to extend its contract with KEMSA because of allegations of mismanagement of COVID-19 funds. This led to a standoff between the Kenyan government and USAID over a large batch of antiretroviral treatment and other donated health supplies stuck at the port of Mombasa, resulting in a temporary shortage of treatments in the country. The Kenyan government insisted that the medical supplies be delivered through KEMSA. The U.S. instead entered into a new five-year contract with the Kenyan Christian nonprofit Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies for procurement, warehousing, and distribution of medical supplies. Beyond tensions with the U.S., KEMSA has faced extensive internal scrutiny by its own government — including around the alleged mismanagement of COVID-19 funds. A report from Kenya’s auditor general in 2020 found “possible fraud where Companies that had been in existence for less than one year, were awarded contracts.” In 2023, President William Ruto fired the public health permanent secretary, suspended KEMSA’s chief executive, and dissolved its board following the cancellation of a tender from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for treated mosquito nets. The Kenyan government wrote that a “regular verification exercise by Global Fund had revealed alleged maladministration on the part of KEMSA with regards to the procurement of treated mosquito nets for vulnerable households.” But a Kenyan government committee also found that the Global Funds’ “mode of communication and convoluted reporting structure had led to miscommunication, confusion and the creation of silos.” The committee noted that the cancellation of the tender had “serious implications on the reputation and image of Kenya abroad.” Kenya’s Office of the Auditor General alleged that KEMSA lost billions of Kenyan shillings for the financial year ending mid-2023, which the agency denied. Last year, KEMSA also denied allegations from the country’s auditor general of widespread mismanagement, financial irregularities, and legal violations. “The Authority would like to clarify that a number of issues reported are inaccurate, non-factual, misleading, and misrepresent the activities implemented during the said period,” the agency wrote in a statement. The agency is amid reforms, which Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale called for an acceleration of in July. “KEMSA must become a high-performing, agile, and ethical institution that delivers for the people. The health of our citizens depends on a supply system that works—one that counties and communities can trust,” he reportedly said to the agency’s board and senior management. Update, Oct. 7, 2025: This piece has been updated with a statement from the USAID Office of Inspector General.