Okiya Omtatah files petition to stop SHIF rollout

Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah. [File, Standard]

Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has filed a court petition to stop the launch of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF). 

In an application filed under a certificate of urgency, Omtatah, together with activists Eliud Matindi and Magare Gikenyi, also seek to quash the contract between the government and the Safaricom Consortium, citing concerns over the lack of legislation to operationalise the fund.  

“Pending the inter parties hearing and determination of this application and the petition herein, the court to issue a conservatory order suspending the scheduled rollout of the Social Health Insurance Fund on October 1, 2024,” they ask the court.

The petitioners claim the subsidiary legislation to operationalise the Social Health Insurance Act is not in place, rendering the implementation of the SHIF unconstitutional.

They are asking the court to quash the subsidiary legislation, which they say is being improperly used to facilitate the rollout.

In addition, the petitioners 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.