The High Court has declined to issue orders stopping the roll out of the Social Health Authority (SHA) following a petition by Busia Senator Okiyah Omtatah.
The case will be mentioned on October 10, 2024.
This comes after Busia County Senator Okiya Omtatah and two other individuals filed a petition on Monday, September 30,2024 challenging the implementation of SHA even as the government started the rollout on Tuesday, October 1,2024.
Justice Bahati Mwamuye declined the request made by Omtatah, Eliud Karanja Matindi, and Dr. Magare Gikenyi to stop the health ministry from moving forward with the plan. The three petitioners argued that the Social Insurance Health Act was being implemented without the necessary legislation.
“I have filed a court petition together with Eliud Matindi and Magare Gikenyi to stop the launch of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF). The subsidiary legislation to operationalise the Social Health Insurance Act is not in place, rendering the implementation of the SHIF unconstitutional,” Omtatah said in an earlier statement.
The petitioners wanted the court to quash the subsidiary legislation saying they are illegally and unconstitutionally being used to implement the SHIF.
Omtatah also sought to stop the contract between the government and Safaricom Consortium, citing lack of legislation to implement the fund.
“We are asking the court to suspend and eventually annul the government’s decision to contract the Safaricom Consortium comprising Safaricom Plc, Konvergenz Network Solutions, and Apeiro Limited to provide the Integrated Healthcare Information Technology System for Universal Health Care,” he added.
On Monday, September 30, 2024, the petitioners moved the High Court, under a certificate of urgency, seeking interim orders suspending the implementation of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) on the grounds that the subsidiary legislation required to operationalize the Social Insurance Health Act, were not in place.
A Petition to Suspend and Annul Government-Safaricom Consortium Partnership
The petitioners also asked the court to suspend, and later quash, the decision by the Government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Health, State Department of Medical Services, to contract the Safaricom Consortium (comprising of Safaricom Plc, Konvergenz Network Solutions Limited, & Apeiro Limited) to provide the Integrated Healthcare Information Technology System for Universal Health Care (UHC), under Tender No. MOH/SDMS/ADM/SPPP/005/2023-2024.
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Omtatah added that the petition included proof of fraud between the government and Safaricom Consortium.
“The secretive documents expose the contract between the government of Kenya and the Safaricom Consortium to be a vicious fraud scheme deliberately designed to steal colossal amounts of money from the SHIF and/or from the Consolidated Fund, in the event contributions to the fund fail to raise the contract billions,” he explained.
Additionally, the senator argued that Safaricom Consortium stood to benefit from the deal without offering the Kenyan society any benefits.
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“Though the Safaricom Consortium masquerades as investors, the truth of the matter is that they will not invest even a single cent into the Kenyan economy. Not only is the contract unlawful; Kenyans will not get any value for money from it…They are basic computer software vendors, who will retain all rights to their product, including the right to sell it to third parties, as they charge Kenyans for using it,” he added.
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