Tobiko refuses to reinstate suspended NHIF boss
The Director of Public Prosecution Keriako Tobiko has rejected a request by Medical Services Minister Prof Anyang' Nyong'o to reinstate National Hospital Insurance Fund suspended chief executive officer Richard Kerich. Nyong'o recalled Kerich after the High Court yesterday declared the NHIF caretaker board established by President Kibaki in May was in office illegally.
Immediately after the court verdict, the CEO of the caretaker committee Adan A. Adan said his board would appeal the High Court ruling. Adan's team was appointed to facilitate investigations into allegations that the NHIF had failed to follow the procedure in awarding Clinix and Meridian health facilities the largest share of the funds allocated for the civil servants healthcare scheme.
It was said the two health providers did not have adequate facilities for the services required. Yesterday, Nyong'o said the allegations against Clinix had been investigated by the Director of Medical Services and the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board. "I asked them to give me a complete report of the facilities that are claimed not to have been in existence and they have told me there was nothing like that,” Nyong'o said. “Clinix outlets that were accredited had met the requirements but that does not stop them from opening other outlets,” Nyong'o explained.
High Court Judge Weldon Korir said there was evident non-compliance with the provisions of the law in the appointment of the caretaker committee and therefore he “cannot allow an illegality to continue”. Justice Korir said President Kibaki did not comply with Section 4(1) of the NHIF Act — which stipulates who should be appointed — when he constituted the new board. “The court has just made a decision today that the caretaker board is illegal which means that the former board is the legal body,” Nyong'o said yesterday.
“What happened (in the former board) is that there was a disagreement one day which disagreement I wanted to look into because the chairman behaved in a way I personally could not understand. Boards do have problems – they can agree on issues and disagree on others. All I would like the board to do now is to sit down and tell me what it is that they are disagreeing on,” Nyong'o added.
Nyong'o said, "I am the minister responsible", accusing the President's Office of usurping the ministry's mandate. “If you don't want to listen to me you should tell me that I shouldn't be here. If someone thinks he can wake up one morning and think he can do my work for me I will say no! I know that I am a competent minister. But l am not going to earn public money if l am not doing my work,” Nyong'o said.
The minister announced the NHIF will now go ahead and implement the new rates which were suspended in May for three months. Nyong'o said a preliminary report, by IFC and Deloitte & Touche who reviewed the system, recommends increasing the rates to achieve efficiency and enable the NHIF achieve the envisaged universal health coverage.
The report says the Sh150 that NHIF had proposed should be the minimum monthly contribution was too modest and recommends that it be raised to Sh364. The government was forced to suspend implementation of the new rates in May. The three-month moratorium ends this month and workers will start paying the new insurance rates from next month.
Under the new rates, the highest contributor will pay Sh2,000 a month for medical insurance and the lowest contribution will be Sh150 based on basic earnings. Tobiko said he could not reinstate the suspended NHIF chief citing the ongoing investigation by the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission and the police into alleged irregularities and fraud in the civil service medical scheme. “At this stage it would be both speculative and premature on my part to give the directives you have requested,” said Tobiko's letter in response to Prof Nyong'o who had on Monday written to the DPP asking whether there was any reason stopping the reinstatement of Kerich and his team.
Nyong'o argued that the caretaker board had failed to meet its terms of reference despite being in office for the last two months. “It had been in office for two months and nobody was giving me anything so I decided that if nothing is happening and Parliament threw out the the report of the health committee, then the CEO should be back in office and continue with his work,” Nyong'o said.
Tobiko's letter was copied to the Commissioner of Police Mathew Iteere, permanent secretaries in the Office of the Prime Minister Mohammed Isahakia and Medical Services Mary Ngari and EACC acting CEO Jane Muthaura. Tobiko directed the EACC and the police to investigate a complaint by Nyong'o that 77 health care providers appointed recently were not formally registered.
Adan's board dismissed the claims saying all the health care providers were registered by the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board and were known to Kenyans. Sources revealed that Kerich has in the last few days been reporting to the NHIF headquarters hoping to take back his office from Adan. On Tuesday, Adan remained in office even after Nyong'o recalled him to perform his previous duties as deputy secretary in the ministry.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment