Appearing before the National Assembly Health Committee, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said they had no clue as to why the ministry’s position was altered in the final draft of the amendment/file
NAIROBI, Kenya June 7 – The Ministry of Health has disowned sections of the Statute Law Miscellaneous Amendments Bill 2018 that contains amendments to the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
Top Ministry officials have accused the Office of the Attorney General of sneaking in new clauses on the establishment of the NHIF board where the ministry had recommended that teachers be represented.
The ministry proposed that one person be nominated by the Kenya National Union of Teachers and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers to the board but they claim the clause was deleted.
Appearing before the National Assembly Health Committee, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said they had no clue as to why the ministry’s position was altered in the final draft of the amendment.
“We do not know how and when the changes were made but what we do know is that we were mispresented,” said Aman.
Committee Vice Chairperson Ranjan Mishra put Aman to task questioning him why he never raised alarm even after seeing the final changes.
In his defence, Aman argued that the ministry was in no position to query the changes because the amendments had already been tabled on the floor of the House.
“The Bill had already been tabled on the floor of the House and it was too late to raise any concerns,” he said.
Earlier on, KNUT officials including its Chairman Wycliffee Omuchei, Secretary General Hesbon Otieno and Treasurer John Matiangi expressed their opposition towards the new amendments saying they were retrogressive.
While stating their reasons for inclusion, Otieno argued that teachers in their number are very instrumental in contributing to the fund hence they should have a representative in the board.
“Teachers are central players in funding NHIF and surely they cannot be sidelined from the day to day running of the fund. Removing representation of teachers’ unions will significantly weaken NHIF’s oversight mandate,” he said.
He said that the amendments were a plot for some few individuals whom he accused of having ulterior motives to ensure that there is no effective leadership on the board to oversight the board’s activities.
“Teachers feel cheated, we strongly feel that the ultimate effect of the amendments to the Act is to increase the funds available to the fund while removing safeguards against their misuse,” he said.
Otieno stated that about 300,000 teachers contribute to the fund with the amount estimated to be four million each month hence they were entitled to have a seat at the table.
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