Kenya Formalises EUR 900M Cancer Screening Partnership Across All 47 Counties
On 15th December 2025, the Council of Governors of the Republic of Kenya, The Ndege Group / Africa’s Sovereign Development Trust® (ASDT), and Steplabs Technical Services Limited executed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding establishing Project Kinga Kansa: EUR 900 million in grant-backed diagnostic infrastructure addressing cancer mortality through equitable early detection capacity across all 47 counties.
The partnership represents the largest coordinated health infrastructure deployment in Kenya’s devolved governance history, combining constitutional mandate, development finance architecture, and technical implementation capacity to transform cancer screening from urban-concentrated privilege into geographically equitable public health standard.
Chief Executive Officer Mary Mwiti, MBS, ASDT Founder & Chairman David Okiki Amayo Jr., and Steplabs Director Vanessa Mutinda formalised the agreement at Council of Governors headquarters in Nairobi, establishing clear institutional responsibilities for implementation, financial syndication, and technical execution across a 60-month deployment timeline commencing Q1 2026.
Constitutional Framework and Institutional Authority
Kenya’s Constitution (2010) establishes healthcare service delivery as a devolved function of County Governments, creating constitutional mandate at county level whilst requiring coordination mechanisms for infrastructure deployment at national scale. The Council of Governors, constituted under Section 19 of the Intergovernmental Relations Act 2012, serves as the statutory coordinating body for Kenya’s 47 County Governments with explicit mandate to facilitate inter-county health initiatives, share performance information, and coordinate capacity building.
This constitutional architecture positions the Council of Governors with unique institutional authority to coordinate health infrastructure projects requiring simultaneous deployment across multiple counties. Project Kinga Kansa operates entirely within this devolved framework, respecting county autonomy whilst enabling coordinated implementation that individual counties could not achieve independently.
The partnership structure reflects this constitutional reality: the Council provides governance coordination and regulatory facilitation, ASDT syndicates grant capital and manages multilateral relationships, Steplabs executes technical deployment. Each institution operates within its sphere of competence whilst contributing to unified implementation architecture.
The Cancer Detection Challenge
Cancer mortality in Kenya stems significantly from late-stage diagnosis. Current diagnostic infrastructure concentrates in urban referral centres, creating geographic inequity where survival correlates with proximity to Nairobi, Mombasa, or Kisumu rather than clinical factors. Rural and peri-urban populations present at advanced stages when treatment options narrow and survival rates collapse.
The mathematics of this inequity are stark: early-stage cancer detection enables five-year survival rates exceeding 80% for most cancer types. Late-stage detection reduces survival to approximately 20%. Geography currently determines this outcome. Urban populations access screening. Rural populations do not. Mortality follows predictably. Project Kinga Kansa addresses this systematic gap through comprehensive diagnostic deployment directly to county health facilities, eliminating referral requirements for initial screening, enabling early detection where populations live rather than where tertiary hospitals operate.
Technical Scope and Strategic Deployment
Project Kinga Kansa deploys five integrated diagnostic technologies selected for operational sustainability, clinical efficacy, and alignment with county health system capacity:
Auto-scan blood testing machines provide comprehensive haematological analysis enabling detection of leukaemias, lymphomas, and other blood-related cancers alongside routine diagnostics supporting broader health programmes.
i-Breast examination equipment delivers non-invasive breast cancer screening through advanced imaging technology accessible to county health personnel without specialised radiological training, addressing Kenya’s significant breast cancer incidence through early detection at primary care level.
Truenat molecular diagnostic systems provide real-time PCR testing for tuberculosis, COVID-19, and cancer biomarkers, offering counties molecular diagnostic capability previously requiring sample transport to national reference laboratories, reducing diagnostic timelines from weeks to hours.
Portable X-ray machines extend radiological capacity to remote and rural areas, enabling chest imaging, skeletal assessment, and tumour detection beyond fixed facility infrastructure, particularly crucial for counties with dispersed populations and challenging terrain.
Chemistry and haematology equipment with continuous reagent supply establishes comprehensive laboratory diagnostic capacity supporting cancer detection programmes whilst strengthening routine health service delivery, ensuring sustainability through integration with existing health systems rather than parallel vertical programmes.
The EUR 900 million encompasses not merely equipment procurement but comprehensive implementation architecture: installation infrastructure adapted to county facility specifications, intensive training programmes for county health personnel ensuring operational proficiency, maintenance protocols with guaranteed spare parts availability, five-year operational support including technical assistance and quality assurance, reagent supply agreements ensuring continuous diagnostic capacity beyond initial deployment.
Institutional Partnership Architecture
The tripartite Memorandum of Understanding establishes institutional responsibilities calibrated to each partner’s core competencies and constitutional mandate:
The Council of Governors provides constitutional coordination, facilitates regulatory approvals across county and national government levels, coordinates county-level implementation ensuring equitable deployment sequencing, integrates diagnostic programmes with existing county health systems, and monitors implementation progress through established intergovernmental coordination mechanisms.
Africa’s Sovereign Development Trust® structures bankable project documentation aligned with Development Finance Institution requirements, syndicates EUR 900 million exclusively through grant mechanisms from institutional capital partners, manages relationships with multilateral development banks, bilateral donors, and philanthropic institutions, provides transparent fund management through OmniGaza® blockchain infrastructure ensuring immutable audit trails, coordinates co-financing arrangements where applicable, and delivers implementation oversight with quarterly progress reporting to all stakeholders.
Steplabs Technical Services Limited executes equipment procurement from verified manufacturers ensuring quality specifications, manages installation across 47 counties including facility infrastructure adaptation, delivers comprehensive training programmes for county health personnel, establishes maintenance protocols with guaranteed response times, coordinates reagent supply agreements ensuring continuous availability, and provides five-year operational support including technical troubleshooting and quality assurance.
This division of institutional labour ensures clarity of responsibility whilst enabling coordinated execution. The Council leverages constitutional authority. ASDT deploys development finance architecture. Steplabs delivers technical implementation. Success requires all three operating within defined mandates.
Development Finance Architecture
Project Kinga Kansa operates exclusively through grant mechanisms, distinguishing it from ASDT’s broader portfolio employing concessional loans and blended finance for infrastructure projects with revenue-generating potential. Health screening infrastructure serves public health mandate without direct revenue streams, necessitating grant capital aligned with social impact rather than financial return.
ASDT syndicates EUR 900 million from four capital source categories, each contributing distinct financing characteristics:
ASDT’s preferential shareholders and capital partners provide initial capitalisation enabling project initiation, equipment deposits, and mobilisation costs whilst multilateral and bilateral grant processes proceed through their respective approval timelines.
Multilateral development institutions contribute grant capital through health sector financing windows aligned with Universal Health Coverage objectives, often requiring co-financing arrangements that ASDT coordinates across multiple funding sources.
Bilateral donors provide grant funding through development cooperation agreements, frequently tied to equipment procurement from donor-country manufacturers, requiring careful coordination to ensure technical compatibility and avoid fragmented supply chains.
Institutional philanthropic partners contribute flexible grant capital often enabling innovation components or accelerated deployment timelines, complementing multilateral and bilateral sources with agility advantages.
ASDT manages this complex syndication through OmniGaza®, its registered blockchain platform providing transparent fund deployment with immutable audit trails. Every transaction records cryptographically, enabling real-time monitoring by all stakeholders whilst preventing fund diversion or opacity that historically challenged development finance implementation in fragmented governance environments.
This transparency infrastructure attracts serious institutional capital. Development finance institutions require accountability mechanisms before deploying grant resources. OmniGaza® provides cryptographic certainty. Funds flow to intended purposes. Audit trails persist immutably. Accountability operates automatically rather than through manual reporting subject to manipulation or error.
Implementation Timeline and Phased Deployment
Project Kinga Kansa proceeds through four structured implementation phases across 60 months, each building upon previous phase completion whilst enabling course correction based on operational learning:
Phase 1: Grant Syndication and Mobilisation (Q1-Q2 2026): ASDT completes final grant commitments from multilateral and bilateral partners, executes co-financing agreements coordinating capital deployment sequencing, finalises equipment procurement specifications with Steplabs and county technical teams, establishes project management infrastructure including governance committees and reporting mechanisms, and initiates facility assessment across all 47 counties identifying infrastructure adaptation requirements.
Phase 2: Procurement and Training (Q3 2026 - Q4 2027): Steplabs executes equipment procurement following competitive processes ensuring quality specifications and value for money, conducts facility infrastructure adaptation preparing county health centres for equipment installation, delivers intensive training programmes for county health personnel ensuring operational proficiency across all five diagnostic technologies, establishes maintenance protocols with spare parts stockpiling and guaranteed response times, and coordinates reagent supply agreements ensuring continuous diagnostic capacity.
Phase 3: Phased County Installation (Q1 2028 - Q4 2029): Equipment installation proceeds across counties in three deployment waves balancing geographic equity with operational efficiency. Wave 1 targets counties with existing laboratory infrastructure enabling rapid operationalisation. Wave 2 addresses counties requiring moderate facility adaptation. Wave 3 completes deployment to counties with minimal infrastructure requiring substantial preparation. This phased approach enables operational learning from early deployments whilst maintaining momentum toward comprehensive coverage.
Phase 4: Full Operational Capacity and Sustainability Protocols (Q1 2030 onwards): All 47 counties achieve full diagnostic operational capacity, five-year operational support commences including technical troubleshooting and quality assurance, integration with national cancer registry enables epidemiological monitoring and programme evaluation, sustainability protocols transfer to counties including maintenance responsibility and reagent procurement coordination, and performance monitoring continues through established metrics tracking screening volumes, detection rates, and referral pathways.
This timeline reflects realistic implementation requirements for infrastructure deployment across diverse geographic and institutional contexts. Accelerated timelines risk compromising training quality, maintenance sustainability, or equitable deployment. Patient capital enables proper implementation.
Strategic Significance and Institutional Positioning
Project Kinga Kansa represents institutional architecture translating policy aspiration into operational infrastructure. Kenya’s Health Sector Strategic Plan articulates Universal Health Coverage objectives. The Constitution guarantees highest attainable health standards. County governments possess constitutional mandate but often lack capital and coordination mechanisms for large-scale infrastructure deployment.
This partnership addresses that implementation gap. Constitutional authority combines with development finance syndication and technical implementation capacity. The result: operational infrastructure deployed at constitutional scale, respecting devolved governance whilst enabling coordination that individual counties cannot achieve independently.
David Okiki Amayo Jr., Founder & Chairman of The Ndege Group / Africa’s Sovereign Development Trust®, stated:
“Project Kinga Kansa demonstrates what institutional architecture enables when constitutional governance, development finance, and technical capacity align. Kenya’s 47 counties receive diagnostic equipment simultaneously not sequentially. Early cancer detection becomes geographically equitable, not urban-concentrated. This is sovereignty manifesting through health infrastructure. ASDT structured documentation respecting constitutional mandate whilst attracting serious institutional capital committed to measurable health outcomes. Grant mechanisms operate through OmniGaza® blockchain infrastructure ensuring transparency that development finance institutions require before deploying resources. Implementation begins Q1 2026. Equipment reaches county facilities. Screening capacity extends to populations previously requiring urban referral for basic diagnostics. Five-year survival rates improve through early detection. Lives extend. Sovereignty operates not through declaration but through infrastructure that functions.”
This articulation reflects ASDT’s institutional positioning: development finance architecture enabling sovereign capacity rather than dependency on external goodwill. Grant capital sources from institutional partners aligned with health equity, not charity models perpetuating subordination. Blockchain transparency ensures accountability attractive to serious capital whilst preventing opacity that enables corruption. Counties receive operational diagnostic capacity integrated with existing health systems, not parallel vertical programmes collapsing when external support withdraws.
Geography ceases determining cancer survival outcomes. Diagnostic capacity operates where populations live. Early detection becomes standard public health function, not urban privilege. This is what sovereignty through infrastructure enables.
Conclusion
The Council of Governors, Africa’s Sovereign Development Trust®, and Steplabs Technical Services Limited have established institutional architecture for Kenya’s most comprehensive county-level health infrastructure deployment. EUR 900 million in grant capital, managed transparently through blockchain infrastructure, flows toward diagnostic equipment reaching 47 counties simultaneously.
Implementation commences Q1 2026. Equipment procurement proceeds through verified supply chains. County health personnel receive training ensuring operational proficiency. Facilities adapt to accommodate diagnostic technology. Maintenance protocols establish sustainability beyond initial deployment. Reagent supply agreements ensure continuous capacity.
By 2030, Kenya’s counties possess diagnostic infrastructure enabling early cancer detection at primary care level. Urban referral ceases as prerequisite for screening. Geographic equity in health outcomes becomes operational reality, not aspirational policy. Five-year survival rates improve through early detection. Lives extend. Constitutional guarantees of highest attainable health standards manifest through infrastructure that functions.
This is institutional partnership operating at constitutional scale. Sovereignty through diagnostic capacity. Health equity through coordinated deployment. Development finance architecture respecting devolved governance whilst enabling coordination. Implementation begins now.
ENDS
About the Council of Governors
The Council of Governors is established under Section 19 of the Intergovernmental Relations Act 2012 as the constitutional coordinating body for Kenya’s 47 County Governments. The Council’s statutory mandate includes providing mechanisms for consultation amongst County Governments, sharing information on county performance, facilitating capacity building for governors, and considering matters of common interest to counties. Under Kenya’s devolved governance framework established by the Constitution (2010), the Council serves as the primary inter-county coordination mechanism for initiatives requiring deployment across multiple counties whilst respecting county autonomy.
About The Ndege Group / Africa’s Sovereign Development Trust®
The Ndege Group operates as Africa’s Sovereign Development Trust® (ASDT), providing strategic advisory, financial architecture design, and implementation support for continental and national economic sovereignty initiatives. ASDT works with heads of state, regional economic communities, national governments, and continental institutions to transform policy frameworks into operational infrastructure through bankable project structures and transparent development finance coordination. OmniGaza®, ASDT’s registered blockchain platform, manages fund deployment with cryptographic transparency and immutable audit trails, addressing accountability requirements that development finance institutions mandate before capital deployment. ASDT employs diverse financing mechanisms calibrated to project characteristics: grants for public health infrastructure, concessional loans for revenue-generating projects, blended finance for mixed-return initiatives. This financial architecture enables sovereign capacity development rather than dependency on external goodwill. ASDT is the institutional vehicle for implementation of the African Federation Treaty Framework, authored by David Okiki Amayo Jr. and published with DOI 10.5281/zenodo.17770245, establishing comprehensive architecture for continental economic integration across finance, security, infrastructure, and resource sovereignty.
About Steplabs Technical Services Limited
Steplabs Technical Services Limited provides technical implementation capacity for health infrastructure projects across East Africa, specialising in diagnostic equipment procurement, installation oversight, personnel training, operational sustainability protocols, and maintenance coordination. Steplabs maintains established relationships with verified manufacturers across haematology, molecular diagnostics, imaging, and laboratory equipment categories, ensuring quality specifications and value for money whilst coordinating reagent supply agreements enabling continuous diagnostic capacity beyond initial equipment deployment.
About Project Kinga Kansa
Project Kinga Kansa (“Project Protect Cancer” in Swahili) represents Kenya’s most comprehensive grant-backed county-level cancer screening infrastructure initiative. The EUR 900 million project deploys five integrated diagnostic technologies across all 47 counties: auto-scan blood testing, i-Breast examination equipment, Truenat molecular diagnostics, portable X-ray machines, chemistry and haematology systems with guaranteed reagent supply. Implementation proceeds across 60 months commencing Q1 2026, encompassing equipment procurement, facility infrastructure adaptation, comprehensive personnel training, maintenance protocols, and five-year operational support. The project aims to transform cancer detection from urban-concentrated referral service into geographically equitable primary care function, improving five-year survival rates through early detection whilst supporting Kenya’s Universal Health Coverage objectives.
