Nairobi — A new report by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has singled out inflation of costs for projects among challenges slowing infrastructure development in the healthcare sector.
EACC said Meru, Tharaka Nithi and Embu counties were found to have registered costs higher than funds budgeted for health projects.
The survey on corruption and unethical conduct in the health sector released on Wednesday in Nairobi placed Meru at the top on cost inflation with a score of 14.8 per cent followed by Tharaka Nithi and Embu counties at 10.8 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively.
Nakuru was ranked fourth with 10 per cent, followed by Marsabit at 8.3 per cent and Kakamega at 8.2 per cent.
"Respondents indicated that Meru, Tharaka-Nithi and Embu counties had more health care projects that had been completed at costs above planned budget," states the report.
The health staff interviewed cited addition in bill quantities, insufficient budget allocation and inflation of cost among the factors that led to over-expenditure.
"The reasons ranged from additions in the bill of quantities (24.3%), insufficient budget allocation (10.5%), embezzlement of funds (8.6%), inflation of cost (8.6%) and bribery (6.9%) among other factors," the report read.
EACC named Makueni, Kitui, Kiambu and Narok among counties which completed most of their projects within the allocated budget.
The report however revealed a higher rate for completion of projects beyond set timelines in Tharaka-Nithi, Homa-Bay and Embu.
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EACC registered lower project completion rates in Makueni, Kitui and Turkana counties due to delayed disbursements of funds, change of contract terms and change of leadership in the said counties.
"The study identified factors that contributed to late completion of projects as delayed disbursements of funds (53.4%), Covid-19 Pandemic (14.2%), change of contract terms (10.3%), change of leadership (8.3%) and corruption (6.9%)," stated the report.
The report also revealed that procurement opportunities for healthcare projects were more accessible in Makueni, Kakamega and Nakuru counties while Wajir, Garissa and Kajiado were least accessible.
It added that most contractors learnt of procurement opportunities through newspapers and county/ health agency websites.
However, most members of the public learnt of these opportunities through friends (23.6 per cent).
The survey targeted 2,180 respondents who included hospital employees (1280), members of the public (500), contractors (150), county experts (50) and senior government officials (6).
It relied on cross-sectional research design as its framework for data collection and analysis. It was conducted in national and county health facilities drawn from 25 sampled counties across the country.
EACC said data was collected through face-to-face in-depth interviews with the target respondents.
"The data collected was cleaned, coded and analyzed using International Business Machines (IMB) Statistical Product and Services Solution (SPSS) software," the report adds.
