Kenya has a great deal of good laws and great plans but the problem is execution.
It should not be lost on anyone that the Jubilee regime led by UhuRuto has been big on talk but ‘kwa ground vitu ni different’
Remember, the regime that says it wants to pay NHIF Ksh500 premiums for poor Kenyans is the same one where KEMSA and MInistry of health under Sicily Kariuki are looting. Don’t forget that it was Uhuru Kenyatta’s sister that was mentioned as having won a tender for lying that she was a PwD. The relathieves got away with ripping off innocent and poor pregnant and sick Kenyans over Ksh5 billion shilings in the AFYA HOUSE SCANDAL.
The first family found a honey pot in the medical sector of Kenya, they ate to their fill until something told them that they should start a private cancer center in this nation.
When you see NHIF’s rogue brother in looting Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) thinking of constructing a private hospital next to the public (mismanaged ) one, what comes to your mind?
Well, the fact is that the owners of capital don’t care about poor people, they never did, they’ll never do, if we don’t rise up and resist.
Now, the idea being fronted by the govt of Kenya (GoK) that they want to pay premiums for poor Kenyans is a sham and a scandal in the making. They propose that the scheme should target children whose premiums would then be lower. The team that is proposing this noted the default rate is high in the voluntary Sh500 national scheme and only 35 per cent of registered members consistently pay their premiums and that the Govt the NHIF spends three times more money paying for treatment of Kenyans in that scheme, compared to their contributions.
Silly, the Sicily and relathieves have seen a avenue for looting, better ways of managing these have been proposed and because they don’t include kickbacks or people who don’t know how to pay bribes, their ideas have been shot down.
NHIF the looting house
First of all, NHIF has never managed monies given to it well They’ve been looting those fees using various means.
Secondly, the use of the word poor people in the scheme is meant to hoodwink Kenyans into thinking that the state cares for them. If the state cares about the poor people, why would the NHIF sign contracts with expensive insurers such as Britam, in the deal where they are losing a lot of money for shoddy returns.
Thirdly, the rogue former Chief Executive Officer for NHIF used money collected from wananchi to fund Uhuru’s campaign in 2017. Is that what NHIF is for?
Fourthly, NHIF has pocketed Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) detectives and commissioners and there’s nothing you poor folk can do. NHIF CEO Geofrey Mwangi received Kshs40 million bribe in a deal with Briitam insurance. EACC has also failed to institute investigations in the matter where the cost of constructing the NHIF car park at upperhill rose mysteriously from Ksh900 million to over Ksh3 billion. NHIF has never satisfactorily explained what happened. But it is clear for everyone who is reading this to note that money was stolen, in fact billions of shillings.
Instead of constructing hospital that are functioning at the mashinani (at the counties); instead of hiring and paying the medical personnel well; instead of making Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) work better to be efficient in distributing medical supplies to all parts of Kenya, the looters are hatching a plan to loot more from the public coffers under the guise of ‘paying premiums for poor people at NHIF’
Other such failed schemes
This is the same country that we get to know that safety net schemes have lost money.
The Orphan and Vulnerable children scheme (OVC) continues to pay people who are now in their adulthood, some who are not orphans and money is being siphoned at the Ministry of Health with the knowledge of World Bank and other donors, but nothing is being done to stop it.
In the The Older Persons Cash Transfer (OPCT), some wazees say they have never received those monies. Your guess on where it ends up is as good as mine.
The Hunger Safety Net Programme by Department for International Development (DFID) has continued to be funded yet the managing bank, Equity bank, has been sitting on vast amounts not disseminated to the beneficiaries (peacefully eating it while engaging in PR).
The Ksh500 billion scandal: Equity Bank opened accounts without Know Your Customer (KYC) documents even as required by the banking code of conduct, put money in these accounts and expect people to withdraw those monies how? Because when the people came to look for money, they were told they don’t have their National Identity cards (ID). How then did they open those accounts? Where is the money? (the series on this story is coming soon)
See this is a classic case of the looting that will happen when the government initiates anything for the poor.
What to do?
- Arrest and charge Geofrey Mwangi for fraud at NHIF,
- Seek and conduct public participation, true public participation, and have people that love Kenya to chart the course of things such as safety net programmes.
- NHIF officials involved in the siphoning of funds from the state agency should all be arrested and charged whether they are small in the department or big directors.
