Sh319 million insurance deal haunts Governor Wamatangi, his Finance CEC
Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi. MCAs passed a motion to impeach the county's Finance CEC over the controversial sourcing of the Sh319 million medical insurance cover for the county staff.
The rift between Kiambu governor Kimani Wamatangi and a majority of ward reps in the county seems to be escalating after one of his key allies was impeached.
Members of the County Assembly passed a motion to impeach Ms Nancy Njeri Kiruba, the county executive of the lucrative Finance docket over the controversial sourcing of a Sh319 million medical insurance cover for the county’s staff.
The MCAs claim the medical cover was single-sourced from Mauritian insurance company MUA Insurance Limited which has operations in Kenya.
The row over the new health scheme already roped in Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentist Union (KMPDU) from Mount Kenya region who claim the move to transfer the cover from public insurer NHIF to a private insurer is suspect.
KMPDU says the move is skewed and will lock beneficiaries out of more benefits, especially inpatient treatment, at a time the government is striving to enrich universal healthcare.
“They are bringing us something from the private sector, we do not even know how it was sourced. We were supposed to have said that we are uncomfortable with NHIF (before any change). So when something else is brought to us, we are asking; who consulted who?” said James Githinji KMPDU central branch chairman in February when they marched to the governor's office in Kiambu to oppose the transfer.
The ward reps cited incompetence on Ms Njeri’s side saying she misadvised the governor and went ahead to pay Sh120 million, as part of the annual Sh319 million, to MUA without engaging the Assembly for approval.
“We are asking why the [county] government transferred its staff from the NHIF which was costing Sh182 million annually to MUA Insurance Limited that they will now be paying Sh319 million. We know the deal was pushed and hurried to be approved for kickbacks,” said Karuri MCA Peter Njoroge, the mover of the motion.
MUA Insurance has been strengthening its local presence since 2020 after it bought out Nairobi-based Saham Assurance company at Sh1.23 billion.
Supplementary budget
Another bone of contention between the MCAs, Ms Njeri, and Governor Wamatangi is the supplementary budget that the ward reps claim is tactically being delayed for debate and subsequent adoption.
They claim the delay could see them miss out on the ward development kitty and other allocations over timeline issues as the funds risk being returned to the Treasury.
