The Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) has raised concerns over alleged interference by the Ministry of Health and the Digital Health Authority (DHA) in the operations of the Social Health Authority (SHA).
In a statement on Tuesday, August 26, COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli revealed that the union has been seeking engagement with Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale over SHA challenges without success.
"For the last one month, the Central Organization of Trade Unions (Kenya), COTU (K), has been seeking an urgent meeting with the Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Health, Aden Duale, intending to address challenges facing the Social Health Authority (SHA), but, unfortunately, our efforts have not been successful," the statement read.
Atwoli noted that the issue lies in the dependence of SHA on an IT system that remains under the control of the Ministry of Health and DHA, which is contrary to the authority’s founding legislation.
"The core challenge facing SHA is that its operations are entirely dependent on an IT platform that remains under the full control of both the Digital Health Authority (DHA) and the Ministry of Health (MoH), instead of being independently managed by SHA itself.
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"Instructively, SHA was established through an independent Act of Parliament, which does not subordinate it to either the DHA or the МоН," the statement continued.
Atwoli further lamented that the arrangement has rendered SHA ineffective in its mandate, reducing it to what he described as a 'conveyor belt' for payments.
"Indeed, as a Board Member representing workers on the Board of the SHA, I am painfully unable to explain to workers what is happening at SHA, considering that SHA is being used as a conveyor belt to process payments while it does not control the IT system aimed at addressing the very problems created by the defunct NHIF.
"It is even more disturbing that even though SHA has its own independent Board which must be allowed to operate in line with its founding legislation, an amorphous entity, DHA, alongside the Ministry of Health, continues to make SHA play secondary to them," the statement further read.
Atwoli explained that the lack of authority over the IT system has created loopholes that expose SHA to blame for mismanagement it cannot control.
"At present, unfortunately, SHA relies on an IT system, controlled by DHA and MoH, to process and pay hospitals and this has created serious loopholes because the SHA has no authority to authenticate and verify hospital claims or to determine who should or should not be paid. As a result, SHA continues to be blamed, erroneously, for all misdeeds of both DHA and MoH," the statement added.
As such, Atwoli expressed concern that workers’ contributions are at risk of mismanagement under the current arrangement.
"As representatives of workers, COTU (K) is deeply concerned, as workers contribute faithfully to the Social Health Insurance with the understanding that SHA is fully in charge of their funds. It is therefore unacceptable that workers' hard-earned money is managed through an 'amorphous' arrangement where the DHA and MoH controls critical systems," the statement continued.
Atwoli warned that unless SHA is given full control of its IT systems, workers will lose faith and confidence in the authority.
He disclosed that COTU has already raised the issue at the SHA Board level but may reconsider its role if the matter remains unresolved.
"It is the position of COTU (K) that unless SHA is given 100% control of its IT platform, workers will lose the faith and trust they have in the institution and thus will affect compliance and provision of services.
"COTU (K) has raised these concerns at the SHA Board level and if no action is taken, we shall be forced to reconsider our position. Indeed, we are currently contemplating whether to continue sitting on a Board that has no authority or to withdraw entirely. To this end, COTU (K) will soon convene a meeting at Tom Mboya Labour College to deliberate on our continued participation at the SHA Board," the statement concluded.
This comes a day after Sidian Bank moved to clarify its role in handling SHA funds following reports linking the bank to the management of the new health insurance scheme.
In a statement on Monday, Tuesday 26, the bank stated that it is among the institutions appointed by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to support remittances, but does not control or manage the contributions.
"Sidian Bank is one of six CBK-licensed banks, KCB, Sidian, Co-op, Equity, Absa, DTB—selected for SHIF remittances after employer consultations," the statement read.
The bank explained that its role is strictly limited to collecting contributions and forwarding them directly to the relevant SHA accounts.
"Sidian Bank only facilitates collections, remitting directly to SHA accounts. We do not hold or manage SHA funds," the statement added.
