The Auditor-General has raised red flags over the purchase of mobile phones worth Sh650 million for community health promoters (CHPs) that were not included in the Health Ministry’s approved procurement plan for the 2024/25 financial year.
Community health promoters are trained individuals who connect communities with formal health facilities, providing health education, disease surveillance, and patient referrals, especially in underserved areas.
Procurement Irregularities
According to the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, all government acquisitions must be part of an approved annual procurement plan before procurement begins. However, the Auditor-General’s report for the year ending June 30, 2025, found that the Health Ministry failed to include the phone purchase in its plan, raising questions about legal compliance and financial accountability.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu stated: "During the year under review, the State Department procured community health promoters' phones at a cost of Sh650 million, which were not included in the annual procurement plan. In the circumstances, value for money on expenditure incurred could not be confirmed."
Programme Background
The phones are part of a government initiative aimed at digitising community healthcare by equipping 100,000 CHPs with smartphones connected to the Electronic Community Health Information System (eCHIS). These devices allow CHPs to register households, capture patient data, submit reports electronically, and support disease surveillance.
Launched in October 2023, the devices are locally assembled Neon Ultra and Neon Smarta smartphones, developed in partnership with Safaricom and customised for community health tasks. Despite this, concerns about the quality of the phones surfaced in May after the Ministry of Health disclosed outstanding bills amounting to Sh876.9 million.
Additional Contract Concerns
The audit also highlighted issues with a Sh24.76 billion three-year contract for CHP kits. The contract was awarded to a foreign firm not registered in Kenya, violating the Companies Act 2015.
Furthermore, there was no evidence that the Health Cabinet Secretary sought approval from the Cabinet and National Treasury before awarding the contract, a requirement for government contracts exceeding Sh5 billion.
Ms Gathungu noted: "This was contrary to Section 134(3) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015."
The first year’s contract value of Sh10.23 billion exceeded the approved budget of Sh5 billion by Sh5.23 billion, and no procurement plan or budget was prepared for the second year, breaching Section 53(7) of the same Act.
Impact of the CHP Programme
Kenya has deployed over 107,800 CHPs nationwide, each responsible for about 100 households. Since the programme’s rollout, CHPs have reached 2.7 million households, providing services to approximately 13.5 million Kenyans and screening over 1.1 million individuals for high blood pressure within four months.
