High Court quashes Duale’s NHIF medical claims committee
The Eldoret High Court has nullified the Pending Medical Claims Verification Committee formed to audit claims against the defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, through Gazette Notice No. 4069 Vol. CXXVII No. 64 dated March 28, 2025, appointed the committee to oversee the process.
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However, Justice Reuben Nyakundi has declared that the formation of the said committee by Minister Duale was unconstitutional.
“That a declaration be and is hereby issued that the establishment of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) Pending Medical Claims Verification Committee through Gazette Notice No. 4069 Vol. CXXVII No. 64 of March 28, 2025, was in contravention of Article 31 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, as read with the Social Health Authority Act,” Justice Nyakundi ruled.
Further, he declared that the establishment of the NHIF Pending Medical Claims Verification Committee had no constitutional or statutory basis and was therefore unconstitutional in its entirety.
Notably, Justice Nyakundi stated that the Cabinet Secretary has no powers under the Constitution or the National Government Coordination Act to empanel a committee — specifically the NHIF Pending Medical Claims Verification Committee — and that such action was in breach of the letter and spirit of the Constitution.
“That an order of certiorari be and is hereby issued quashing the establishment of the NHIF Pending Medical Claims Verification Committee through Gazette Notice,” Justice Nyakundi ordered.
According to the judge, the grounds set out in the petition encompassed illegality and impropriety, rendering the decision-maker liable to be impeached by dint of judicial review under Article 23 of the Constitution, based on an error of law.
Additionally, he stated that the powers exercised, though conferred by the relevant statutes or legislation, were used for a purpose different from that envisaged by the law under which they were granted to the Cabinet Secretary.
“This was a void decision, invalid from its inception and, from the standpoint of the Constitution, it has no legal effect,” Justice Nyakundi stated in his judgment.
Nakuru-based activist Dr. Magare Gikenyi, on April 5, 2025, filed a petition challenging the legality of Minister Duale’s decision to empanel the committee, terming it unconstitutional.
“That a declaration be and is hereby issued that the Health Cabinet Secretary could not legally and constitutionally establish a National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) Pending Medical Claims Verification Committee as gazetted in Gazette Notice No. 4069 Vol. CXXVII No. 64 of March 28, 2025, or any other document of any other date, to conduct audit/claim verifications involving public funds in the manner, composition, and terms set out in the said Gazette Notice,” Dr. Gikenyi stated.
He also sought to have the court declare the formed committee, or any similar document of any other date, as unconstitutional, null, and void.
