Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has one message for anyone hoping to cash in on Kenya's Ebola response: not on his watch. The CS used the phrase "Ebola billionaires" to describe the kind of profiteering and corruption he is determined to shut down before it starts, drawing a hard line around how the government manages its outbreak response.
The warning comes as Kenya activates systems to handle the threat of Ebola, a disease that has historically created opportunities for misappropriation of public health funds across the continent. Duale's pointed language signals that his ministry is aware of those patterns and is naming them directly rather than tiptoeing around them.
It is a rare moment of candor from a Cabinet Secretary, and Kenyans will be watching closely to see whether the words hold when procurement decisions and emergency funding start moving through the system.
Originally published by AllAfrica.