President Ruto: I haven't been able to deliver on my NHIF promise due to graft

President William Ruto during a Media Engagement session at State House, Nairobi

President William Ruto during a Media Engagement session at State House, Nairobi on January 4, 2023.
 

Photo credit: PCS

President William Ruto on Wednesday said he was unable to deliver his pre-election pledge of ensuring all Kenyans were enrolled on the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) because of corruption.

"I had not imagined the rot at NHIF was all that grave. The mess in it was more than I had imagined. I had to reschedule the promise but I'm on track," he said.

He said he has appointed a new board to NHIF and for the health sector. The President promised to ensure the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) is restructured to drive out cartels choking it.

He added that he will push for the digitisation of health supplies and remittances to the NHIF.

He said the programme will be through in the next six months. 

"It is unacceptable that 85 per cent of government services are analogue. For example, 60 per cent of VAT collection targets are collected manually, the rest getting lost in corruption," he said.

He said he will stop the hemorrhage of money in corruption cartels "and I will ensure that we stop appetite for debts and plunder".

He said his target is to collect an extra Sh500 billion by July and all of it reaches the national treasury without getting lost on the way.

 "This will no longer be the animal farm where some are more equal than others. Starting with me, all of us will pay taxes. We will seal the loopholes that encourage tax evasion. We will raise taxes without increasing tax regimes...I will collect an extra trillion by 2025 and double the amounts by 2027," he said.

 About education, he said the implementation of the Competency-Based Based Curriculum (CBC) was hurriedly done.   

 "Bear with me as we untangle the mess. We will tidy it up. We will invest in human resources in schools and in skills...China is coming in to equip 70 TVETs," he said.

He added that university funding by the government currently stands at 52 per cent "and as they search for a 48 per cent fund deficit, we are getting it all wrong. Duplication of programmes in education is another big issue...our universities are in chaotic status in all aspects".

Dr Ruto added that bandits are terrorists "but we are better in violence...we have for example nabbed two financiers of coastal region terror cells with their billions. We are investing in Special Forces. If this government won’t solve the security problem, I doubt whether there is one that will ever. We are that solution".