The Ministry of Health faced criticism on Thursday as Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah and other lawmakers raised questions about its involvement in the arrest of Grace Njoki and issues with the Social Health Insurance (SHA) system.
Grace Mulei was arrested after she went to a Ministry meeting to protest the ongoing problems with SHA.
Her arrest has become a sign of people’s anger with this new health insurance system. Lawmakers wanted to know who ordered her arrest and why the government was focusing on punishing people instead of fixing the system.
During a heated meeting with officials from the Ministry and SHA, Ichung’wah asked the Health Permanent Secretary whether the SHA, the Ministry, or the police were responsible for the arrest.
He wanted to know who made the complaint that led to Mulei being arrested, noting that her Ksh 50,000 police bond raised suspicions about the case.
In addition to Mulei’s arrest, the meeting revealed bigger issues with how SHA is being managed and its poor communication with the public.
Lawmakers criticized the Ministry for not informing Kenyans about the problems with the system, which have made it hard for people to access healthcare services.
“Systems will always have problems, but how you talk about them and fix them is what matters. Kenyatta National Hospital admitted there was a system failure—why wasn’t this shared with the public?” Ichung’wah asked.
He also questioned SHA’s ability to work on its own, saying that its way of communicating was “poor” and too dependent on the Ministry.
Lawmakers wondered if SHA, which is supposed to be semi-autonomous, was being controlled by the Ministry.
“When we created SHA, we did not want the Ministry to run it. The authority must show that it can manage its own affairs,” Ichung’wah stated.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has decided to drop its case against Grace Mulei.
