Why many state projects don't take off

Is President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza government biting more than it can chew and hence its failure to successfully implement almost all projects and programmes started since it came into office in 2022?

Unlike President Mwai Kibaki who started with free education and ensured it had been fully implemented, the current administration appears to be doing almost everything at the same time without accomplishing much.

Apart from new programmes such as the affordable housing craze that faced battles in the courts owing to a proposed tax on employees (housing levy deductions), the Ruto administration has been on a changing spree of many ways that government served Kenyans. From university funding, to health insurance, to homeland security and police reforms, most are mere dreams in terms of implementation.

The newest programme that is as fledgling as all the others is the health financing one which is planned to take effect tomorrow, October 1. The registration exercise to the Social Health Authority (SHA), which should replace the nearly 60-year old National Hospital Insurance Fund, has seen a disappointing one.

Of a target of 12 million households for registration by October 1, according to health authorities, only 2 Million had been registered by yesterday.

Pundits now believe that the Ruto administration could be good only at rhetorical talk and high-octane politics, which today include friction between the President and his deputy.

Most of the Ruto administration flagship projects and programmes have all faced serious legal and implementation headwinds as the government struggles to deliver the lofty promises it made to Kenyans before assuming power in 2022.

And the President continues to make more pledges to communities and gatherings across the country. The list continues to grow, as time flies by, with little, if anything, being accomplished.

Last week, Kitutu Chache MP Antony Kibagendi kicked off another storm when he asked Kenyans to protest against the implementation of the Social Health Authority (SHA) because it is allegedly another big scandal in the making.

Early this year, court rulings either slammed breaks on some of the projects or temporarily stopped others, like the Affordable Housing Project and the universal health programme, then known as the Social Health Insurance Fund.

The insurance programme, run by SHA was expected to kick-off this week after the court of appeal revoked a decision that had stopped the enforcement of the Social Health Insurance Fund Act 2023, the Primary Health Care Act 2023 and the Digital Health Act 2023 until a case challenging its legality is heard.

But it is now facing another court hurdle after Members of Parliament, led by Kibagendi, questioned the Sh104billion cost the Ministry of Health intends to spend on setting up an information system for the health insurance service. The award of the contract for the IT system is now a highly controversial matter.

The individuals behind it are friends of the powers in the administration, including IT expert Mwende Gatabaki who is wife to Ruto’s chair of his team of economic advisors, economist David Ndii. The SHA programme is supposed to be implemented through the Public Private Partnership programme but the courts have declared the Act governing it unconstitutional, meaning the government will have to go back to the drawing board. 

So, unless the law is changed to conform with the court ruling and be agreeable to the protagonists, SHA will be a nonstarter that will create more nightmares for the government.

Analysts however think, the government could have drawn less criticism had it used existing NHIF structures or just improved it to fit into the SHA system, thus making it less costly.

Gitile Naituli of Multi-Media University questioned why the ministry decided to come up with a completely new management system, instead of upgrading the existing NHIF infrastructure.

“I think they want to do it the way Uhuru Kenyatta’s government did with the Standard Gauge Railway project. Instead of upgrading the old railway line, they decided to acquire land and started a new line that became very expensive to the taxpayers,” says Prof Naituli.

It has not been easy for the President to roll out all his many programmes, despite making every effort to ensure that government business receives as much support as possible in Parliament because of the numbers he has managed to marshal from the opposition.

Kibagendi has questioned the President’s appetite for new projects, cautioning that it is impossible to fund and successfully complete all of them at the same time.

“I want to tell him that he cannot forcefully change everything in such a short time. He wants new funding model for universities, a new medical insurance scheme, a new education system, a new port and airport, all in record time which is not possible,” says the MP.

Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi argues the promises Ruto made during the campaign period were mere rhetoric and all, including a pledge to reduce the cost of living. All have failed, he says.

“Many of the earlier promises he made to Kenyans are largely unfulfilled but there are other serious issues like the Adani JKIA airport lease deal that his leadership is now facing, which he has to deal with,” says Osotsi.

He argues that Kenya Kwanza appears to have put the cart before the hose and that is why most projects and programmes started by this administration are facing serious challenges.

Some of the projects have been stopped because no public participation was done before implementations as required by the law and Acts of Parliament, an omission MPs say can be easily avoided.

“They should also ensure that necessary laws that provide a proper legal basis for the projects are enacted to avoid challenges that render the projects unlawful, which also causes unnecessary delays,” added Osotsi.

Ministries have also been accused of coming up with ideas that are quickly implemented without going through due process as required by the law, leading to increased costs when they are challenged in court.

Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka also thinks the Kenya Kwanza government needs to do better because it has not accomplished any of its promises yet the President is still promising to construct more public universities, among other pledges, during his tours in the counties.

“Let them show us even one road project that has been done and completed by the Kenya Kwanza administration, or any other project that has been successfully delivered since they took office,” says Onyonka.

The reality is that the Ruto administration is saddled with a heavy burden of the many projects it has started and some, like SHA, will struggle to get going even without the legal challenges it is facing.

Last week, SHA CEO Elijah Wachira announced that the project intends to register 12 million households before the rollout of the programme on October, 1 2024 but by Friday, it was reported that only 2.1 have been captured in their data.

Although the project is being handled by MOH, Kibagendi says the buck stops with the President because he is the CEO of the country and he has to ensure that money is used prudently.

Early last week, Health CS Deborah Barasa said the government has allocated Sh6.1 billion for the SHA, out of the Sh168 million needed to fully implement the programme.

In addition to implementing SHA, MOH is also partnering with Safaricom to digitise the health system and its services to allegedly weed out avenues for corruption.

The MPs opposing the scheme are also unhappy that the government has single sourced the SHA system and that is why some people have moved to challenge the process in court.

“This thing is being rushed. The launch was expected to happen on Tuesday because they want to do it as soon as possible.  It is a mongrel that has not been properly explained and Kenyans need to know much more. Kibagendi opines.