Mishra: Ex-MP who embodied generosity loses hope of defending property

Former Kesses MP Swarup Mishra. He was a multi-millionaire before 2022. [File, Standard] Former Kesses MP Swarup Mishra was a multi-millionaire and a man at the peak of his political career before August 2022. In Kesses, a constituency in Uasin Gishu County, Mishra, a medical doctor-turned-politician, was well-known for his generosity. But things took a different turn after the 2022 general election. He lost the parliamentary seat to Julius Ruto, a former Uasin Gishu County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Finance. Mishra, who came to Kenya in 1997 to practice Medicine, loved the country and was cherished in equal measure. He was rewarded with a parliamentary seat at the 2017 elections through the Jubilee party, then popular in North Rift. He defended the seat as an independent candidate after falling out with President William Ruto ahead of the 2022 polls. Earlier in 2022, Mishra threatened to quit politics after he was heckled by supporters of a rival candidate during President Ruto's campaign in Kesses. After successfully working as a lecturer of Medicine at Moi University, the obstetrics and gynaecology specialist founded Mediheal Group of Hospitals alongside his wife Pallavi, also a medic. In nearly two years now, Mishra, who earned the name Kiprop, a Kalenjin name meaning a boy born during a rainy season, has been at his lowest. From a lonely life outside politics to a battle to repay millions of shillings in loans and the properties targeted by auctioneers, the man who once embodied generosity seems to have given up on pleading for help to rescue his properties, including residential homes and the hospital. Trouble started in late 2022 after the former MP's Mediheal hospital was struck from the NHIF list of facilities, with the teachers' insurance scheme under Minet also striking out the hospital. As a result, its clientele shifted to hospitals where NHIF and other health insurance policies for government employees are accepted. In the latest move by creditors to recover loans advanced to the former MP and his investments, auctioneers have listed all his properties in Eldoret and beyond for auction. "After two years of living on my knees under constant threat and losing millions to systemic blackmail, I wake up to find everything I have worked for, for over 20 years, is being auctioned," a frustrated Mishra said on the social media platform, X. He went on to say: "Where are we headed as Kenyans? Am I the only political target? No, we are many." A month ago, the hospital's woes deepened after auctioneers seized nine vehicles and other properties over Sh40 million in debts owed to 18 doctors. Last December, Eldoret residents led by Benjamin Letting, expressed concern over the hospital's dwindling fortunes. They said the facility offered critical medical services at affordable rates to the community and that it employed more than 1,000 people. "We cannot afford to lose the hospital. Its closure would be devastating for thousands of people who rely on it for jobs, income, and medical care," Letting said. The residents suspect Mishra's political choices are the cause of his woes. They pleaded for forgiveness on his behalf from the Kenya Kwanza administration, emphasising the hospital's broader value to the community. Mediheal Group of Hospitals has been the subject of criticism since late 2019. In May this year, the Kenya Renal Association called for the suspension of the operating licenses for Mediheal Hospital in Eldoret over what they alleged as unethical kidney transplants. "This is in direct violation of the World Health Organisation resolutions, the Declaration of Istanbul, and Kenya's Health Act 01 2017, which prohibits organ trade," the association said in a statement dated May 3, 2024. Critics claimed that the facility was involved in questionable kidney transplants. Mishra fought back, saying the social media criticism against him and the hospital was orchestrated by local politicians to tarnish his name ahead of the last 2022 general elections.

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