Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has criticised President William Ruto’s dismissal of concerns over the alleged loss of KSh 50 billion linked to the Social Health Authority (SHA), saying the remarks risk undermining constitutional accountability and public trust.
President Ruto, addressing the media on Wednesday, rejected claims that billions of shillings had been lost within the national healthcare financing system.
He described such reports as propaganda and highlighted record payouts to medical facilities, noting that KSh 16.2 billion was paid in a single week under the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) — the fund managed by SHA that replaced the former NHIF.
“We are paying the highest amounts of money to any hospital that has ever been paid under any administration,” the president said.
However, Omtatah, in a forceful response on Thursday, said the president’s remarks missed the point.
“The President is out of order,” the senator said, stressing that the Office of the Auditor-General is a constitutional body, independent of the executive, mandated to audit public resources.
“Dismissing a report that questions the loss of KSh 50 billion from SHA undermines the Constitution itself.”
Omtatah insisted the figure cannot be brushed aside as a clerical error.
“KSh 50 billion is not a clerical error. It is public money collected from the sweat of Kenyans,” he said. He argued that ignoring audit findings — even amid government claims of high payouts — “insults every Kenyan who struggles to access healthcare while public resources disappear.”
The controversy centres on findings by the Auditor-General and subsequent debate over alleged irregularities in SHA’s financial operations.
Government officials maintain that accounting figures and transitional entries are being misrepresented, and that strong payment activity to health facilities indicates the system’s robustness.
Critics, including lawmakers and civil society actors, have pushed for fuller transparency and accountability in managing public funds under the new health insurance framework.
The dispute comes against the backdrop of broader concerns about healthcare financing reforms and the government’s handling of public funds, at a time when many Kenyans contend with rising costs and challenges accessing quality services.