President William Ruto has issued a stern warning to health facilities and practitioners defrauding the Social Health Authority (SHA), vowing that those caught siphoning funds meant for sick Kenyans will face the full force of the law.
Speaking on Saturday, August 30, during the installation of Bishop John Arap Lelei of the newly created Kapsabet Catholic Diocese, the Head of State said his government would not tolerate the looting of public health funds, terming it the “worst form of corruption.”
“There is nothing as worse and criminal as stealing from the sick. We have already shut down 1,000 health facilities that were defrauding SHA, and revoked their licences. But it won’t end there—we will prosecute those responsible and compel them to return every coin stolen,” Ruto declared to thunderous applause.
The President revealed that despite SHA’s digital fraud-proof systems, rogue hospitals and unscrupulous medical practitioners continue to exploit loopholes, filing fictitious claims to enrich themselves. He maintained that no title, office, rank, or region would shield anyone found guilty of plundering health funds.
Storm Over SHA Integrity
Ruto’s pronouncement comes amid mounting scrutiny over the SHA, which replaced the scandal-ridden National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) last October. The new scheme—hailed as a game-changer in achieving universal health coverage—already serves more than 20 million Kenyans and has paid out over Ksh 6.8 billion to health facilities since its rollout.
Yet, unverified reports circulating on social media suggest a multi-million-shilling racket within the Ministry of Health, with claims that some officials are colluding with select hospitals to siphon SHA funds.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has dismissed the allegations, branding them as propaganda peddled by cartels disgruntled by the government’s sweeping shutdown of fraudulent facilities.
“You find someone claiming that a woman has undergone ten Caesarean operations within a month. That is how some people were getting rich—by stealing from patients. I am a truthful man, and I will never touch money that is not mine. Those culpable will face justice,” Duale said defiantly.
The CS assured Kenyans that SHA remains secure, insisting that its systems are robust enough to safeguard public resources from organized theft.
Ruto, who has made anti-graft crusades a central theme of his presidency, insists SHA must be protected at all costs if Kenya is to achieve affordable and universal healthcare. He emphasized that the government is tightening surveillance to ensure cartels do not turn SHA into another cash cow.
“We must all close ranks to deal with this. Health money must be used for the health of our people—not to enrich a few greedy individuals,” the President said.
SHA was launched to replace the NHIF, which had been in operation for over five decades but had become synonymous with corruption scandals. By integrating a digital claims system and a biometric verification process, SHA was touted as fraud-proof.
But as the ongoing crackdown shows, technology alone cannot root out deeply entrenched corruption in the health sector.
The fate of the suspended 1,000 facilities now rests with ongoing investigations, with Ruto vowing that prosecutions will follow swiftly.
For millions of Kenyans relying on SHA, the fight against fraud is not just about accountability—it is about survival.
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