Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi was on Wednesday, March 5, put to task to explain what his docket was doing to address the pressing funding challenges facing the Social Health Authority (SHA).
Appearing before the Senate, Mbadi was challenged by Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale who wanted to know what the government was doing to mitigate the pressing issue of sustainability and transparency of SHA funding. The CS admitted that SHA has had its challenges since its rollout in October 2024 but claimed that the challenge mainly revolved around the implementation of the system. "There is no country that has implemented it without politics, even in developed democracies," he said. "As a country, we promised Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and we must implement it properly." On what the treasury was doing to support SHA, Mbadi said his docket was working on a more rationalized budget, adding that money was already set aside for the new healthcare system. The Social Health Authority(SHA) building, October 1, 2024.
Photo Social Health Authority He added, "Treasury has supported SHA.
In the current supplementary II (budget), we have an allocation of Ksh6 billion to support SHA, Ksh3 billion to support primary health care, and another Ksh3 billion to support critical healthcare. Further, Mbadi also denounced the notion that SHA was a form of tax, instead describing it as insurance which was removed from the country's fiscal framework, meaning the fund was not part of the government expenditure. "The deduction from members is insurance.
