Former CIC insurance boss Elijah Wachira named NHIF CEO
Elijah Wachira. He has been appointed the new NHIF CEO.
The board of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has appointed a new chief executive officer after a five-month search.
Mr Elijah Wachira will replace Mr Samson Kuhora who has been the acting CEO, taking over from Mr Peter Kamunyo who retired in April.
Mr Wachira was appointed alongside six other directors, including Ms Hazel Koitaba, who was appointed as director of beneficiary and provider management.
Others are Mr Ibrahim Mohamed Alio (director of corporate services), Mr Pariken Ole Sankei (director of internal audit), Ms Catherine Mungania (company secretary/director of legal services), Mr Robert Ingasira (director of financial services) and Mr Martin Ayoo (director of information and communication technology).
In a statement, NHIF Board Chairperson Michael Kamau said the appointments were made following a competitive and open recruitment process.
"The NHIF Board wishes to announce the appointment of the CEO and six Directors. This follows a competitive and open recruitment process that commenced on June 27," Mr Kamau said in a statement on Thursday.
He said: "The new management team brings on board an invaluable wealth of experience that will contribute immensely to the transition of the Fund to its successor. I would like to thank all staff for their dedication and support of the acting CEO and senior management during the interim period".
The position was advertised twice. The Board instructed that the search should start afresh, resulting in the re-advertisement. The re-advertisement for the CEO and six directors was published on June 27, 2023.
The then acting CEO, Samson Kuhora, said in a statement on June 20, that during the recruitment process, the board determined that the results did not align with the fund's vision of transformational leadership.
"Consequently, the board has unanimously decided to terminate the ongoing recruitment process and will commence a new process," Mr Kuhora said.
The appointments come as Cabinet proposed the dissolution of the NHIF with the Social Health Insurance Fund, forcing current employees to reapply for their jobs when the agency is split into three entities as part of planned reforms to make it more efficient.
The Social Health Insurance Bill 2023 will create a Social Health Authority to manage three funds, according to transitional clauses which state that the new authority will take over all NHIF assets, but only absorb its workers on merit.
Also Read: The new NHIF shocker
NHIF staff who wish to work under the Social Health Authority, which will be responsible for three funds - the Primary Healthcare Fund, the Healthcare Fund and the Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund - will have to reapply.
"The board of the Social Health Authority --- shall competitively recruit and appoint its staff ---- subject to the approved staff establishment and on such terms and conditions of service as the board may determine," the bill reads in part. "Employees of the fund [NHIF] shall be eligible to apply for positions advertised by the board and may be considered for appointment if they are suitably qualified for the positions advertised."
The NHIF has over 1,800 staff and it is not clear what the staffing levels of the three funds that will succeed it will be if the Bill becomes law.
The bill states that NHIF staff who are not appointed by the authority will either have to retire from the public service or be redeployed elsewhere.
The government wants to use the three funds to run the Universal Healthcare (UHC) programme, which promises affordable healthcare for all Kenyans.
