On the day that a section of MPs gave Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale a 48-hour ultimatum to resign or face censure in Parliament, President William Ruto said stern action would be taken against hospitals and individuals who had siphoned funds from the Social Health Authority (SHA).
Speaking to 6,000 grassroots leaders from Kiambu County at State House in Nairobi yesterday, President Ruto said the government would arrest and prosecute those responsible for the fraud and recover the payments they had received for false claims.
“There are people who got used to stealing public money under the National Health Insurance Fund through ghost hospitals and fake claims, but not anymore.
“We will not only ensure that they return the money they may have illegally been paid but also prosecute them,” he said.
The President disclosed that more than 1,000 health facilities had been closed due to financial misconduct, noting that the digitisation of SHA operations has enabled the authorities to detect and track fake hospitals and fraudulent claims before payment.
Dr Ruto said the government had allocated Sh21 billion for primary healthcare to dispensaries, health centres, and sub-county hospitals, and urged Kenyans to report any facilities still charging patients.
“If you go to a dispensary, a health centre, or a Level Four hospital, please get treated and leave without paying a coin,” he said.
The President spoke as a group of young MPs from the Kenya Moja Caucus confronted Mr Duale regarding a multitude of malpractices at SHA, including the questionable procurement of the Sh104 billion SHA system.
Led by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, MPs Anthony Kibagendi (Kitutu Chache South) and Wilberforce Oundo (Funyula) raised concerns about the rushed implementation of the system, as well as the lack of transparency and questionable financial decisions surrounding it.
They also cited claims that SHA’s outstanding bills had increased to 43 billion in just 10 months, compared to 32 billion at the time of NHIF’s shutdown, and sought to link CS Duale to a company that developed the SHA system and another that collects revenue.
“We demand the immediate resignation of CS Duale,” the MPs said in a statement read by Kitutu Chache South MP Anthony Kibagendi.
This as the also demanded for the resignation of SHA chairperson Dr Mohammed Abdi “for being complicit in issues raised and conflict of interest as well as call for the establishment of a commission of inquiry into SHA.”
“If this is not done, we will call on all Kenyans to act. This level of impunity and theft cannot go unchallenged,” said Mr Kibagendi.
Members of the Health committee of the National Assembly, had raised “serious” concerns regarding the establishment of the SHA.
“We warned about the rushed implementation, the lack of transparency, and the extremely questionable financial decisions surrounding the program.”
CS Duale did not respond to our inquiries when reached for a comment. According to the MPs, upgrading the then existing now defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) system would have only cost Sh700 million.
“The reason behind the rush is clear. SHA is not a reform. It is a grand, calculated scam,” the MPs said noting; “we have uncovered evidence of deep-rooted conflicts of interest.”
The MPs spoke as the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU)- Kenya Secretary-General Francis Atwoli said they are reconsidering workers’ participation on the SHA Board.
The COTU boss said that it is unfortunate that SHA does not control its operations that he said are entirely dependent on an IT platform that remains under the full control of both the Digital Health Authority (DHA) and the Ministry of Health (MoH).
This is notwithstanding that SHA was established through “an independent Act of Parliament,” which does not subordinate it to either the DHA or the MoH.
“It is the position of COTU (K) that unless SHA is given 100 percent control of its IT platform, workers will lose the faith and trust they have in the institution and thus affect compliance and provision of services,” said Mr Atwoli.
Mr Atwoli revealed that COTU (K) has raised “these” concerns at the SHA board level “and if no action is taken, we shall be forced to reconsider our position.”
“Indeed, we are currently contemplating whether to continue sitting on a board that has no authority or to withdraw entirely.”
According to Mr Atwoli, SHA relies on an IT system, controlled by DHA and MoH, to process and pay hospitals.
“This has created serious loopholes because SHA has no authority to authenticate and verify hospital claims or to determine who should or should not be paid. As a result, SHA continues to be blamed, erroneously, for all misdeeds of both DHA and MoH,” the COTU boss said.
The MPs claimed that the Health CS is reportedly associated with the same company that developed the SHA system, a company in charge of revenue collection and payments.
They also noted that the SHA Chairman has links to Ladnan Hospital, which has already received Sh66 million under the scheme.
MPs said that payments under SHA are skewed and discriminatory noting that some providers are consistently paid, while others, offering genuine health services, have never received a cent.
“Worse still, ghost facilities are being paid regularly.”
They also noted that Nyandiwa Dispensary in Kisumu, which has been closed for some time, continues to receive payments with Divine Sparkle Medical Center in Rangwe, Homa Bay County, receiving Sh2.8 million in June, “yet it does not even exist.”
In North Eastern, the number of accredited facilities has skyrocketed from 153 to over 700, raising the questions of how the facilities were accredited.
Hanano Nursing Home received over Sh4 million, more than the usually busy Nairobi city’s Pumwani Hospital even as the MPs noted that “credible reports suggest this hospital doesn’t exist.”
They also noted the recently registered hospitals are the biggest beneficiaries.
They noted that Tumticha Medical Center, registered just this year, received Sh1.5 million, more than even the area’s sub-county hospital, Wante Nursing Home Ltd, registered on February 12, 2025, applied to the Ministry of Health the very next day and was approved the same day.
“It has no physical location, yet by April this year, it had received over Sh3.8 million,” said Mr Kibagendi.
Sipili Maternity and Nursing Hospital, which was shut down three years ago after an exposé on NTV, received close to Sh5 million with the MPs wondering who the person behind the facility is and whether it has a valid license.
The MPs also claimed that SHA has “a clear scheme of theft by duplication.”
“We have seen private nursing homes registered using the same names as existing public facilities.”
They cited Qarsadamu Medical Center Ltd and Qarsadamu Dispensary, which they claimed is “a blatant trick to facilitate looting.”
They legislators also noted that means testing, which is supposed to determine the financial ability of Kenyans, “is another joke.”
They revealed that regardless of a person’s actual situation, everyone is awarded Sh92,000, raising the question of “what then is the purpose of the means testing instrument?”
In terms of payments, the legislators revealed that payments made after the 10th of every month are automatically flagged as late, and penalties are unfairly imposed.
They also noted that the government has now resorted to rejecting claims arbitrarily and punishing facilities that raise concerns about SHA, saying it is “a clear tactic of intimidation.”
