Will graft ridden NHIF survive? – Weekly Citizen

Days after Uhuru Kenyatta suspended the implementation of the new National Hospital Insurance Fund regulations, trouble is brewing at the state body over claims of corruption and underhand dealings.

Insiders at NHIF board say, fearing they can be arrested on matters relating to corruption that is likely to end careers, five of the directors who do not entertain the chairlady’s leadership plan to resign.

Uhuru suspended the implementation of the controversial NHIF regulations that had tripled costs and would have adversely affected the roll out of the Universal Health Coverage.

Murithi

On the spotlight now is the NHIF board chair Hannah Muriithi who is being accused of manipulating tenders, pushing payments for firms giving her kickbacks and sidelining the management and board in decision making. Muriithi is accused of operating as an executive chairlady.

That she is well linked in the corridors of power is well manifested when she was named the founder chairperson of the board of Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA). She also served as the chairperson of a taskforce under the ministry of Agriculture which was mandated to and succeeded in consolidating eight parastatals dealing with coffee, tea, sugar, horticulture, pyrethrum, sisal, cotton, coconut to form one parastatal called Agriculture Fisheries and Food Authority.

Muriithi, took over as chairperson of NHIF in April 2018 after Mohamud Ali resigned upon being elected governor of Marsabit, is a lone ranger who only boasts of having the right connections at State House.Ever since then, it has been reign of terror at the plum parastatal.

According to highly placed sources, Muriithi is dropping the name of Internal principal secretary, Karanja Kibicho to scare those bold enough to question her modus operando.

Mwangi

Insiders say the rot at NHIF was among the reasons cabinet secretary Sicily Kariuki was shuffled from the lucrative Health docket to the Water docket.

Former Nyeri senator Mutahi Kagwe will take over once vetted by the national assembly.

According to highly placed sources, Muriithi has reduced acting NHIF chief executive Nicodemus Odongo and Bernard Njenga, manager, management accounting, to mere figureheads with no managerial powers to execute any decision.

The two managers are said to sing to her tune to save their jobs.

Muriithi, the sources added, has also reduced the board to a mere rubberstamp and even threatened those brave enough to question her with removal and prosecution over corruption. Her appointment was lobbied by powerful investors in the health industry out to loot NHIF via dubious claims. One hospital that the Asian director by the name Mr Pisu boasts to have pocketed Muriithi is the notorious Nairobi West Hospital.Nairobi West Hospital is one of the many institutions across the country that have been linked to suspicious claims. Former CEO Geoffrey Mwangi did not get on well with Murriithi.

The other board members are Lattif Shaban (faith-based healthcare organisations), Odongo (acting chief executive officer/board secretary), Roba Doba (Cotu), Joseph Mwaura (member/PS/National Treasury), Samwel Arachi (ministry of Public Service Youth and Gender), Dr Pacifica Onyancha (ministry of Health), Rachael Monyoncho (FKE), Jacqueline Kitulu (Kenya Medical Association) and John Masasabi Wekesa (director general ministry of Health).

According to sources, upon being appointed, Muriithi bulldozed the contracting of a legal firm, MMC Africa to be awarded a Sh500 million contract. Weekly Citizen has information, MMC was single-sourced for the Sh500 million consultancy contract to evaluate the future of NHIF operations,

Odongo

The law firm was to draft the lucrative contracts between NHIF and hospitals. Insiders say, any hospital worthy its salt to survive must use millions to get NHIF deal. Weekly Citizen has information, hospitals operated by Mount Kenya and Asians were registered and awarderd the deals.

The tasks it was supposed to handle included reviewing existing template contracts; preparing a term sheet capturing salient features of the hospital contracts; drafting contacts; researching on the provision of similar contracts; standardising contracts; negotiating terms of the contract, company searches, print contracts, binding and stamping.

But eyebrows were raised when the firm presented to NHIF a legal note stating the state body had 6700 hospitals in its armpits, thus 6700 contracts.

To this end, the firm invoiced NHIF for Sh1.87 billion but after negotiations the figure was brought down to Sh1.5 billion which was promptly paid.

But whistleblowers raised concern on the validity of the contract stating it was not necessary to pay the colossal amount for a job that NHIF staff could have handled.

Curiously, the payment was done yet the finance and investment committee of the board of management minutes were not signed by the chair and chief executive.

Also, the number of contracts were 6700 as stated in the board minutes and passed by the board yet 7009 contracts were paid for, raising further eyebrows.

According to sources, as at March 2019, 34pc of the contracts had been worked on and 78pc of the total bill paid to the law firm.

The contract was to run for two years as per the service level agreement but the board had stated it covered three years.

The rot at NHIF was further unearthed by the national assembly health committee after it found out that NHIF had unofficial contracts with hospitals abroad, who in turn bloat the costs of treatment and the loot is shared by the board.

When he appeared before MPs in 2019, Odongo tabled documents that showed private entities were making a killing from NHIF contributions.

The documents revealed that government and mission hospitals, which are generally accessed by a majority of Kenyans of low income, were receiving less than half of what private hospitals get annually.

For instance, in the 2018/2019 financial year, private hospitals received Sh22 billion from the insurer while government and mission received Sh7 billion and Sh8 billion respectively out of its Sh37.7 billion expenditure.

In the same period, NHIF spent Sh17.7 billion for specialised treatment which included flying some patients abroad for medical attention.

The figure was higher than what it spent on inpatient and outpatient treatments that stood at Sh11.8 billion and Sh8 billion respectively.

It is also emerged that many members of the health scheme were shocked to find fake dependants added in their records.

The false in-patient claims were made by powerful agents and the amount ranged between Sh50,000 to Sh100,000.

From the scam, NHIF lost over Sh200 million which ended up in the pockets of the senior management.

There are also reports top NHIF bosses and some board members have formed shell companies that they are using to award themselves tenders.

Other reports indicate that the funds are diverted into offshore accounts by the top management officials and board members.

The sources added that Muriithi calls meetings with the board three or four times a week and draws allowances yet Mwongozo (The code of governance for state corporations) and the Act states that the board of management should only meet once a quarter. When in the lift, nobody is allowed to accompany her. Her support staff complain of being harassed and kept working until late.

She also excludes the CEO whom she handpicked from the meetings so that she acts as executive chair.

Staff also complained that Muriithi directs the firing of those not dancing to her tune and has intimidated the board to ensure she runs NHIF as a one-man show.

The firing of the human resources director was made after refusing to employee her relative. Directorate of Criminal Investigations is still probing corruption at NHIF. It is said, Muriithi, the NHIF iron lady has acquired four houses in English Point Marina at Coast at a tune of Sh200million