MPs Question Ksh.77 Million Legal Fees in Defunct NHIF’s 2020/2021 Accounts
By Bruno Mugala Atonya
The Public Investments Committee (PIC) has raised serious concerns over questionable legal expenditures by the defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) during the 2020/2021 financial year, where three law firms were allegedly paid Ksh.77 million to recover a Ksh.13 million debt.
The committee, chaired by Emmanuel Wangwe, grilled officials from the newly formed Social Health Authority (SHA) over the audit query, demanding accountability for what lawmakers termed as “gross misuse of public funds.”
Appearing before the committee, SHA Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mercy Mwangangi was pressed to explain how such an enormous amount was approved for debt recovery. Despite attempts to distance her current team from the irregularities, MPs insisted she must take responsibility as the head of the successor institution.
“We are not in that institution. We are looking at you. Kenyans know you; they don’t know who left the institution. You are saying you are new because being new is trying to escape questions. So who prepared this?” questioned PIC Vice Chair Caleb Amisi.
Wangwe added that the management had failed to cooperate with previous audit processes, saying, “Would you confirm whether you responded to all the audit processes? Because I am reliably informed that you didn’t even respond to management letters that were sent to you.”
In her defense, Dr. Mwangangi stated that the SHA was compiling a comprehensive report and would submit it within three weeks. “We have been working on developing these responses, and we will have to go back and check why those responses were not done by the NHIF team then,” she said.
The committee further flagged Ksh.247 million spent on legal fees that year, describing the expenditure as excessive and lacking transparency. SHA Chief Finance Officer Robert Ingasira admitted that the documents before the committee were compiled from both the defunct NHIF and the new SHA, noting, “It’s unfortunate that the information was not provided to the Auditor General then.”
Dr. Mwangangi assured the committee that reforms under the Social Health Authority had introduced transparency and accountability measures. “If you look at the issues raised by the Auditor General, the current SHA benefit is itemised unit by unit and gazetted by law with tariffs that are available within public knowledge,” she said.
Lawmakers also urged the SHA to consider amending the Social Health Insurance Act to address issues raised by Kenyans regarding benefit limits — particularly the one-off surgery restriction.
“Somebody has had an operation today and in six months is coming back for the other one but is stopped by way of the law. That is why we are there — we can amend it,” noted Chairman Wangwe.
Responding to the concerns, Dr. Mwangangi explained that benefit improvements could be made through the Health Benefits Advisory Panel, depending on available funds and national disease burdens.
She concluded by urging MPs to support SHA’s ongoing reforms, emphasizing that the new system is “far better than NHIF in all aspects” and called on leaders to help educate Kenyans about the importance of registration and participation in the new health scheme.
