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Salasya faults Ruto for transitioning NHIF to SHA
02nd September, 2025 01:45 PM
Mumias East Member of Parliament Peter Salasy has blamed President William Ruto for transitioning the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to the new Social Health Authority (SHA), calling it a failed move that is burdening Kenyans.
According to the legislator, the new SHA system is both unsustainable and exploitative, especially for unemployed Kenyans who were previously paying a flat rate of Ksh500 per month under NHIF.
The Mumias legislator took to his official X account on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, where he highly criticised President William Ruto’s decision on the health sector.
“Under NHIF, we never saw this coming. You accepted Kenyans to be charged a lot of money through SHA, some Ksh1500 and some Ksh800, from unemployed people who used to pay a flat rate of Ksh500 per month. Now kimeumana,” he wrote.
On his part, Salasaya pointed fingers at the government’s failure to support key healthcare programs, which, according to the Mumias MP, include the EDU Afya and Linda Mama programs.
“I don’t support this move, as it’s not sustainable. SHA needs to sustain itself. When the government failed to pay EDU Afya and Linda Mama, that was the beginning of the fall of healthcare in Kenya,” Salasya wrote.
Salasya has further accused the Kenya Kwanza administration of abandoning its responsibility to fund health care, claiming, “You refused to pay 30B for two years; you were in power from 2022,” Salasya wrote.
Ruto vows to support SHA
Meanwhile, Salasya’s remarks closely follow Ruto’s stance defending the Social Health Insurance over recent irregularity claims.
Ruto sought to clarify reports of irregularities within the Social Health Authority (SHA), attributing the rise in flagged cases to the enhanced detection capabilities of the newly implemented digital health system.
Speaking during a church service at St Peter’s ACK Cathedral in Siaya on Sunday, August 31, 2025, Ruto said the SHA’s improved monitoring tools are revealing long-standing irregularities that went undetected under the now-defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
“The system we have introduced is exposing issues that have been ongoing for years. People think there is new corruption — no, the difference is that the new system can detect it,” the president said.
On his part, Ruto noted that the government is currently verifying Ksh30 billion owed to various hospitals from the NHIF era, but acknowledged that some facilities are yet to cooperate with the audit process.
“We will pay any hospital what they are owed, but only after verification,” he said.
The Head of State further warned that health facilities found to have submitted irregular claims may be required to refund the money.
