Corruption Kingpin? KNH Ex-Boss Kamuri’s Sh229 Million Empire Crumbles as Court Freezes His Assets

Anti-graft agency unearths massive unexplained wealth trail leading to suspended hospital chief accused of plundering oxygen tender

The walls are closing in on suspended Kenyatta National Hospital Chief Executive Officer Dr. Evanson Njoroge Kamuri after the High Court froze a staggering Sh229 million worth of assets suspected to be the spoils of brazen corruption at Kenya’s largest referral hospital.

In a damning order that strips bare the alleged financial impropriety at the heart of the country’s healthcare system, Justice Lucy Njuguna has given the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission the green light to pursue the forfeiture of properties, treasury bonds, and bank accounts linked to a man who was supposed to heal the nation, not bleed it dry.

The frozen loot includes prime landed properties in Kitengela and Ngong valued at Sh130 million, treasury bonds worth Sh55 million, and a cool Sh44.5 million sitting pretty in six different bank accounts.

For a public servant entrusted with running a national hospital, the numbers don’t just raise eyebrows—they scream corruption.

At the center of this financial scandal sits a botched medical oxygen plant tender that has all the hallmarks of the procurement rot that has become Kenya’s national shame.

The EACC investigation reveals that Dr. Kamuri allegedly orchestrated an elaborate scheme involving Biomax Africa Ltd, irregularly executing multiple addendum contracts that violated every rule in the Public Procurement and Assets Disposal Act.

The oxygen tender, initially valued at Sh443.6 million, became Dr. Kamuri’s personal cash cow.

Investigators allege he abused his office by approving and authorizing a payment of Sh290 million to Biomax Africa Ltd for what turned out to be a substandard oxygen-generating plant that failed to meet even basic tender specifications.

The plant, meant to save lives at KNH, instead became a monument to greed and incompetence.

But here’s where the plot thickens: EACC investigators discovered that Sh114.4 million mysteriously found its way into Dr. Kamuri’s personal bank accounts.

When confronted, the suspended CEO scrambled to explain away his newfound wealth, managing to satisfactorily account for assets worth Sh237 million out of an initial Sh446 million the anti-graft body had targeted.

That still left a gaping hole of Sh229.4 million that he couldn’t explain away with any legitimate income source.

The commission’s investigators also have their sights set on a second tender involving the installation of an Enterprise Resource Planning system at the hospital, suggesting the oxygen plant scandal may just be the tip of a much larger iceberg of corruption.

Dr. Kamuri’s letter of June 26, 2025, attempting to explain his wealth clearly wasn’t convincing enough for EACC, which concluded that there was an evident disproportion between his known legitimate sources of income and the assets he had accumulated.

In Kenya’s corruption lexicon, that’s code for: “Show us the money trail, or we’re taking it all back.”

The temporary injunction issued by Justice Njuguna will remain in force until September 11, 2025, giving the EACC time to file formal forfeiture proceedings.

The commission has made it clear that if any of the assets have been wasted or are unavailable for forfeiture, they want Dr. Kamuri to pay the government the equivalent value in cold, hard cash.

This case is yet another indictment of how Kenya’s public healthcare system has been turned into a feeding trough for corrupt officials who see tenders not as opportunities to serve Kenyans, but as personal enrichment schemes.

While patients die from lack of oxygen in understaffed wards, hospital bosses allegedly pocket millions meant to save lives.

The Kamuri case also exposes the mockery of due process in public procurement. How does a CEO single-handedly execute multiple contract addendums in violation of procurement laws? Where were the oversight mechanisms? Who was watching the watchman?

For Dr. Kamuri, the oxygen tender that was supposed to help KNH breathe easier may end up suffocating his financial future.

As he fights to keep his unexplained millions, Kenyans are left wondering how many more Dr. Kamuris are lurking in the corridors of our public institutions, turning critical tenders into personal ATMs while the country gasps for air.

The court will make a final determination on the forfeiture proceedings, but one thing is already clear: the evidence against the suspended KNH boss looks as damning as the allegedly substandard oxygen plant he approved payment for.

Justice, like oxygen, is a necessity, not a luxury. And Kenyans are watching to see if it will finally be delivered.