Foreigners paid Sh30m for Kidneys as Kenyan donors got pennies, MPs told

A shocking kidney trafficking racket has been exposed in Kenya, with lawmakers hearing that wealthy foreign patients paid up to Sh30 million for transplants while Kenyan donors received as little as Sh50,000 or nothing at all.

Nandi Hills MP Bernard Kitur, who blew the whistle on the scandal, told the National Assembly’s Health Committee that the illegal trade targeted vulnerable young people from rural areas.

He said they were tricked by brokers with false promises of easy money, only to undergo dangerous surgeries under poor conditions and walk away with failing health and broken promises.

“There are brokers who approached these young men while they were relaxing at shopping centres in the evenings. They told them there was an easy way to make money,” said Kitur during the committee session on Thursday.

He revealed that recipients, mostly from Israel, Germany, Uganda and Sudan, were flown into the country and paid tens of millions for transplants, yet the Kenyan donors barely saw a fraction of that.

“One victim, Emmanuel Kipkosgey, was promised Sh1.2 million but received only Sh50,000 before the surgery and Sh400,000 after the operation. The balance has never been paid,” he said.

Kitur said Kipkosgey’s health has worsened and he is one of many victims now demanding compensation.

Seme MP James Nyikal, who chairs the committee, questioned the lack of transparency in the medical checks before the operations. “Which hospital did he go to for testing?” he asked. “From what I’m hearing, it seems the process was prearranged… we need clarity on where this initial testing took place.”

But Kitur declined to name the hospital that first tested Kipkosgey, giving no specific reason. Kilgoris MP Julius Sunkuli criticised the decision, asking, “Is there any valid reason why the name of the hospital should be concealed?”

Kitur further told the committee how identification documents were manipulated to carry out the operations. “The ID of Amon Kipruto Melly was taken and replaced with a fake foreign ID,” he said.

He named Mediheal Group of Hospitals, owned by former Kesses MP Swarup Mishra, as being at the heart of the racket but added that the syndicate was much wider.

“While Mediheal Group of Hospitals has remained at the centre of public scrutiny, new evidence suggests that it is part of a larger system in which several private health institutions, both licensed and unlicensed, may be complicit in illegal kidney transplants and unethical organ procurement practices.”

Endebess MP Robert Pukose, who is a medical doctor, urged the committee to expand the probe beyond Mediheal.

“From that statement by Hon. Kitur, it’s clear that this issue is not limited to just one hospital. If several facilities are implicated, then focusing on just one raises questions. We need a broader investigation that captures the full scope of the malpractice.”

Nyikal agreed. “The witness says there is a syndicate, and when it’s a syndicate, it means we might have to investigate more people and more hospitals.”

Ndhiwa MP Martin Owino called for caution in how the information is handled. “We should avoid revealing everything all at once, because the more information we disclose prematurely, the more we alert these syndicates. Some may then go underground,” he said, proposing private interviews with victims.

The committee’s probe, which will last 90 days, is looking into widespread malpractice in kidney transplant services across the country.

Preliminary findings suggest some operations were done without informed consent, proper documentation or follow-up care. In some cases, records were faked and donor-recipient details were falsified to push through the transplants.

Kitur, who said he now fears for his safety, urged the government to compensate the victims and take firm action. He warned that justice must be served for the many people who were lured, exploited and harmed by the illegal trade.