Moses Kuria has criticized Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale over his threat to deport former Kesses MP Swarup Mishra.
In a statement on Sunday, August 3, Kuria warned that such statements could damage investor confidence and Kenya's international reputation.
Kuria also questioned the appropriateness of government officials making public threats without proper jurisdiction, especially on such sensitive matters.
"Sometimes I wonder. When a senior government official who is not in charge of immigration says we will cancel citizenship and deport so and so, do we ponder to think what investors will think of our country?
"Are we that unorthodox? What of investors confidence? What of due process? What of our credit rating? At this rate from where shall we get jobs for these children of ours? Gracious Lord hear us," he said.
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Speaking in Eldoret on Thursday, July 31, Duale escalated pressure on Mishra by threatening to revoke his Kenyan citizenship, deport him to India, and shut down his facilities if Parliament adopts a taskforce report implicating him in an alleged organ trafficking scheme.
Duale accused Mishra of fostering a culture of impunity in Mediheal hospitals.
"You cannot come to our country 20 years ago with a bag, you make money, you sell our organs, you become a Member of Parliament, you develop a culture of impunity, you hire lawyers and when you’re pursued you threaten us?
"If it means us revoking that citizenship because your citizenship is not by birth, we will revoke the citizenship, we will close your hospital and deport you," he said.
Duale's remarks came just days after a 13-member taskforce appointed by the Ministry of Health submitted a damning 314-page report on July 22, which traced 417 out of 452 donor files to Mediheal Hospital in Eldoret.
The figure represented over 80 percent of all organ donors investigated and raised serious concerns about the legality and ethics of the hospital’s transplant procedures.
The taskforce recommended the criminal prosecution of Dr. Mishra and three transplant specialists for allegedly violating the Citizenship and Immigration Act, along with Kenya’s transplant and medical regulations.
Mishra responded to the allegations by strongly denying any wrongdoing.
He maintained that the foreign recipients brought their own donors and that the hospital was not involved in any illegal or exploitative transactions.
"Organ transplant means that one is taking money from the recipient and soliciting the donor while paying him, we were never involved in such a process, and I request that the committee should have been on a mission of fact finding, not fault finding," he said in an earlier statement.
According to him, 476 surgeries were conducted within the law, and the accusations were politically motivated or based on misinformation.
"There is no foreigner who came in the country and left with a kidney of a Kenyan, all the foreigners who were operated on came with their own donors from their country.
"The way forward is very simple, if Mishra and Mediheal are really culprits, let them carry the cross, but if we are truly innocent, then let us get justice," he added.
