NAIROBI— Church leaders in Kenya and South Africa are calling on their respective presidents to curb corruption as local reports broke of individuals taking government funds earmarked for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Media in both countries have detailed massive losses from the funds, embezzled through inflated pricing, forced action by state agencies to contract with firms owned by the well-connected, and outright theft, as happened with a donation from Chinese tycoon Jack Ma to Kenya.

In South Africa, Bishop Victor Phalana of the Kerksdorp Diocese, Chairman of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), posted a passionate plea on Aug. 5, saying, “We cry [over] the looting in South Africa and repressions in Zimbabwe.”

The post came in the wake of reports of theft of COVID-19 funds in South Africa. The country’s COVID-19 response has been marred by corruption allegations involving a $36.6 billion USD relief package, aimed at protecting the country’s 57.7 million people.

South Africa has the world’s fifth largest number of COVID-19 infections, with at least 625,000 reported cases, 538,000 recoveries and 14,000 deaths.

In late July, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela Diko was forced to temporarily relinquish her position pending the outcome of an investigation into the awarding of two contracts for the supply of personal protective equipment to Royal Bhaca Projects, a company at which her husband is a director. She said the contracts have since been cancelled.

The Sunday Independent reported that the company was awarded contracts worth $4.8 million by the Gauteng provincial health department, days after President Ramaphosa last March announced that the country was entering a national lockdown. It said that Royal Bhaca Projects had charged inflated prices for the personal protective equipment.

Following this news, the interdenominational South African Council of Churches (SACC) demanded action by the government, saying, “the looting of funds meant for fighting against COVID-19 in the country are typical of vultures and hyenas [fighting] over dead bodies.”

The council also said in a statement it “is extremely disgusted by the revelations of the shameless looting of funds, through alleged irregularities in COVID-19 procurement processes.”

It would be ironic if President Ramaphosa would face corruption charges, considering that he was the beneficiary of a corruption investigation. Former President Jacob Zuma was forced to resign in early 2019 after facing probes over rampant corruption in his government. He was succeeded by Ramaphosa.

“One day South Africans came together: cívic associations, religious groups, youth, the unemployed, all races, etc; we wanted to end the reign of terror and the culture of corruption by the Zuma regime,” Bishop Phalana said, expressing his disappointment in the ruling African National Congress party.

In Nairobi, the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK) and the Kenya Episcopal Conference (KEC) both issued statements calling on President Uhuru Kenyatta and Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe to address the corruption allegations involving COVID-19 funds.

The corruption allegations, which have implicated officials close to the president, have caused a rift between President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto to widen. Ruto has lately been shunted aside by his boss, even as Kenyatta prepares to exit the stage after his two-term presidency ends in 2022.

“At least for once it won't be possible (for me) to be blamed for what someone said started in Wuhan as a virus, landed in Italy as a pandemic and is now in Kenya as a multi-billion shilling corruption enterprise,” Ruto said in a tweet. The Deputy President, a self-professed Christian who built an altar at his official residence, has been accused of being behind nearly every suspected corrupt transaction involving the government.

The Evangelical Alliance of Kenya said President Kenyatta must address the thefts of COVID-19 funds to assure a skeptical public:

“Considering the suffering Kenyans have gone through in the last five months, and considering that this COVID-19 pandemic even led to the closure of our places of worship, we cannot sit pretty when evil men and women enrich themselves from funds intended to address the plight of Kenyans.

“It is most regrettable that some well-meaning donors have already given notice of withdrawing medical aid meant to benefit HIV/AIDS and malaria patients to the tune of $40M. That is how costly the theft of public resources can be,” the EAK bishops said at a press conference in Nairobi.”

The Kenya Episcopal Conference has demanded forceful action by President Kenyatta. Rising to the challenge, Kenyatta directed the Ministry of Health to publish details of all procurements related to COVID-19, particularly those undertaken by the quasi-governmental Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA).

A dispatch from the State House quoted the president as saying that the publication of procurement information, including winners of tenders, was an act of transparency and an anti-corruption measure that should be adopted by all public entities.

"I also hereby direct that the Ministry of Health, within the next 30 days, must come up with a transparent, open method and mechanism through which all tenders and procurement done by KEMSA are available online," Kenyatta ordered.

Tom Osanjo is a Nairobi-based correspondent for Religion Unplugged. He is a former parliamentary reporter and has covered sports, politics and more at Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper.