Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) is facing possible closure after its crucial medical research activities were left out of government funding for the 2025/2026 financial year, deepening a financial crisis that threatens to bring critical health research and disease surveillance to a halt.
On Thursday, acting director general, Prof Elijah Sonkok, and board chairperson, Dr Abdulahi Ali, confirmed the development, revealing that the government had not allocated any funds to the institute for medical research in the financial year, only pumping in Sh2.7 billion that he said was meant for recurrent expenditure and salaries for its 850 of Kemri’s 4,000 staff. The rest, Kemri said, are funded through donor-supported projects.
The Kemri leadership was in Kilifi to meet British High Commissioner Neil Wigan to discuss funding options for the institution.
Addressing journalists, Prof Sonkok said Kemri was struggling financially due to overreliance on donors. “Our major challenge is that 80 per cent of the funds we use at Kemri come from donors. This is a security risk—not just for Kenya but for the entire region. As you saw recently, when funding from the US was stopped, we struggled,” he said.
Prof Sonkok said Kemri was now depending on the UK government to sustain its operations and appealed to the British High Commissioner not to withdraw support, warning that collapse of the institution would have far-reaching consequences.
He said this would erase the institution’s impact on Kenya—especially in community health, drug development, outbreak response, and capacity building.
“This (next year budget), not a single shilling has been allocated to medical research. Absolutely nothing. Yet the work we do benefits Kenyans, Africa, and the world,” he said.
“When Covid-19 emerged, we were the first to identify it in the country. We developed tools to control the pandemic, including diagnostics and therapeutics,” he said.
Despite financial constraints, Kemri is working to seize available opportunities and is calling for an amendment to the Social Health Authority (SHA) Act.
Prof Sonkok noted that although SHA is a devolved programme supporting healthcare, it does not currently provide any funding for research due to policy limitations.
Kemri, he said, has suspended several critical research and clinical trials due to lack of funding.
“We have potential cancer treatments based on traditional medicine, but since donors aren’t prioritising them, it's up to Kenyans to support such locally driven solutions,” he said.
He added, “We have many potential solutions lying idle at Kemri. We cannot proceed with clinical trials due to lack of funds. But SHA presents an opportunity.”
Kemri is lobbying for public support to push for an amendment to the SHA Act that would allocate 0.1 per cent of the Sh7 billion collected monthly to research institutions, including universities.
“If Kemri is improving lives, we shouldn’t argue that it’s too painful to fund it through taxes. If we can get even that small percentage of SHA money, we will revolutionise research in Kenya,” Prof Sonkok said.
Dr Ali said Kemri has 15 centres countrywide, including in Mandera, Kisumu, Siaya, Eldoret, Kirinyaga, Mombasa, Kwale, and Nairobi.
“Most of our research funding comes from donors. The government used to provide small grants for junior researchers, but that has dried up,” he said.
“We understand the national financial challenges, but we are hopeful the government will allocate funds next year,” he added.
Currently, the government only covers salaries for about 850 of Kemri’s 4,000 staff.
“Our laws currently prevent us from commercialising the research products we develop. If we were allowed to sell them—even just to the government—we could sustain ourselves,” he said.
He called for legal reforms that would allow institutions such as Kemri to generate revenue through partnerships with local manufacturers.
“All our research becomes futile if we can’t carry out clinical trials. Compliance and safety must be ensured before products can be used on people,” he added.
