KEMSA CEO: Mandate Alone Will Not Retain Customers, Performance Will

The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) is stepping up efforts to deepen customer confidence, expand its customer base and deliver more reliably, with the Authority recording a 74.3% customer satisfaction score and significant service improvements across its regional distribution network.

Speaking while leading KEMSA staff in marking Customer Service Week 2026 at the Authority’s National Supply Chain Centre in Embakasi, KEMSA Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Waqo Ejersa, challenged employees to move beyond simply responding to customer orders and instead anticipate demand, secure the supply pipeline and deliver consistently.

“Mandate alone will not retain customers. Performance will,” he said, stressing that customer service at KEMSA goes beyond transactions because behind every order is ultimately a patient.

He pointed to the Kisumu Regional Distribution Centre, which has recorded KSh381 million in sales within three months of expanding its mandate to serve 15 counties across Nyanza, Western and parts of the North Rift. Order turnaround time has simultaneously improved from 21 days to eight days.

He said the gains demonstrate what is possible when the customer is deliberately placed at the centre of operations, while challenging the Authority to replicate the model across its wider customer base.

KEMSA is also strengthening demand visibility, forecasting and quantification through engagement with counties and improvements in its logistics management information systems. The shift is intended to move the Authority from reacting to orders to anticipating demand and securing essential health products before customers need them.

He said KEMSA’s growing partnerships with health product manufacturers and suppliers, including strategic engagements supporting local manufacturing, must ultimately be measured by their impact on patients.

“The ultimate measure of our partnerships is not the number of MOUs we sign. It is whether medicines are more available, more affordable and more accessible to patients,” he said.

The Authority is simultaneously positioning itself for wider partnerships and an expanded role in national and externally supported health programmes, while strengthening governance, business continuity and institutional resilience.

He, however, cautioned staff against becoming complacent.

“We must not confuse progress with perfection,” he said, calling for greater accountability, faster escalation of problems and stronger teamwork.

Dr. Waqo urged employees across procurement, warehousing, distribution and support functions to see their work through the lens of the patient waiting for care.

“When you procure, remember the facility waiting for the product. When you process an order, remember the patient whose quality of life depends on it.”

He challenged staff to widen KEMSA’s customer base, enter new territories, build stronger partnerships and ensure that customers won are customers retained through reliable service and measurable value.