Gachagua Criticizes Ruto’s Health Initiative

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has escalated his criticism of President William Ruto, claiming he is not acting in the best interest of Kenyans.

During a live TikTok session on Thursday morning, Gachagua disclosed that Ruto overlooked an opportunity to enhance the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) with a mere Ksh800 million, opting instead for the Social Health Authority (SHA) at a total expenditure of Ksh110. 9 billion (comprising Ksh6. 1 billion for the SHA system and Ksh104. 8 billion for associated technology infrastructure).

Gachagua asserted that under the proposed NHIF reforms, families could be covered for Ksh300.

In his critique of Ruto’s flagship project, which has faced numerous difficulties since its launch in October last year, Gachagua deemed it rushed and poorly executed.

“Experts indicated that reforming and enhancing NHIF could have been accomplished at approximately Ksh800 million,” he stated.

The former Deputy President, who has become increasingly vocal since his exit from office in October, questioned the necessity of deploying a new healthcare system under SHA for Ksh104 billion.

He asserted that the initial plan of the Kenya Kwanza administration was to reduce family healthcare contributions from Ksh500 to Ksh300 while broadening coverage to include all illnesses and chronic conditions.

“The program was promising in concept, but its implementation has been severely lacking. It was expedited without adequate stakeholder consultation,” Gachagua remarked.

“We aimed to lower the monthly contributions to Ksh300 for complete family coverage,” he added.

Despite the backlash, Ruto remains confident in SHA, asserting that it is functioning effectively. However, Gachagua contends that reverting to NHIF is still an option.