The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) board has cancelled a Sh6.9 billion tender for provision of insurance cover for civil servants and the National Youth Service (NYS) trainees.
The tender was cancelled just a few minutes before the deadline for submission of the bids, which raised suspicion within the Ministry and insurance sector.
NHIF had advertised the tender on May 30 and prospective bidders required to submit their bid documents by June 14.
Minutes before the cancellation of the tender, Health Cs Susan Nakhumicha ordered the nullification of the recruitment process for the fund’s chief executive officer who was to replace Peter Kamunyo, whose term expired in March.
The NHIF chairperson Michael Kamau dismissed allegations that there was political interference that led to the cancellation of the two tenders.
“Forget about what you are reading in social media. There was absolutely no outside interference. Even presidential elections are nullified and repeated, so what is wrong with NHIF cancelling a tender?” said Eng Kamau.
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Kamau maintained that his board would not entertain any exercise that jeopardizes the lives of Kenyans in any way.
“We are doing everything in a transparent manner. For the CEO, we want somebody with integrity and able to win confidence in NHIF. We want somebody who will jumpstart the stalled Universal Health Coverage (UHC),”
Interested firms had been asked to bid for the provision of co-insurance and facultative insurance services (consortium) for Group Personal Accident (GPA) and Work Injury Benefits Act (WIBA) for 120,047 civil servants and NYS staff from July 1 to June 30, 2024.
