The Standard’s Tuesday paper shifts focus to the role of President William Ruto’s administration in the unfolding crisis at Kenyatta National Hospital, linking the hospital’s distress directly to a top-level fiscal directive.
The paper argues that the December 2023 order requiring all state agencies to remit revenue into a single government Paybill account was implemented without adequate consideration of service delivery realities.
While the directive was intended to enhance transparency and centralised control of public funds, The Standard notes that it has effectively stripped KNH of financial flexibility.
Despite collecting tens of millions of shillings daily from patients, the hospital cannot promptly access its revenue to meet basic operational needs.
As a result, laboratories lack reagents, patients go unfed, and hundreds await critical test results.
The publication portrays the situation as a cautionary tale on policy-making from the top, warning that well-intended presidential directives can have severe consequences when execution overlooks the operational demands of essential public institutions