{"id":111415,"date":"2025-03-05T09:04:20","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T09:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/03\/05\/omtatah-calls-for-immediate-suspension-of-sha-following-audit-findings\/"},"modified":"2025-03-05T09:04:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T09:04:20","slug":"omtatah-calls-for-immediate-suspension-of-sha-following-audit-findings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/omtatah-calls-for-immediate-suspension-of-sha-following-audit-findings\/","title":{"rendered":"Omtatah calls for immediate suspension of SHA following audit findings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 5 \u2013 Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has called for the immediate suspension of the Social Health Authority (SHA), urging the Ministry of Health to take swift action on what he termed as glaring operational failures.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Omtatah also said SHA operations should be suspended until a thorough investigation is conducted following damning findings by the Auditor General.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead of advancing universal healthcare, SHA has become a dysfunctional system that exploits Kenyans while enabling large-scale corruption,\u201d Omtatah said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not reform; it is an elaborate fraud designed to enrich a few at the expense of millions. SHA is not just riddled with corruption \u2014 it is operationally collapsing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Omtatah emphasized that those responsible must be held accountable to prevent further plundering of public resources.<\/p>\n<p>The legislator warned that continuing with the broken scheme would cause irreparable harm, betraying the trust of millions who deserve a transparent, accountable, and functional healthcare system \u2014 not a corruption cartel disguised as progress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHealthcare facilities are refusing service due to unpaid claims, patients are being forced to pay cash despite contributing, and out of 18 million registered Kenyans, only 4 million are actively contributing. This is a glaring sign of distrust and financial instability,\u201d said Omtatah.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Audit findings <\/h2>\n<p>His remarks follow Auditor General Nancy Gathungu\u2019s revelations of irregularities in the procurement of the technology system running SHA, urging Parliament to take decisive action against those responsible.<\/p>\n<p>Appearing before the Senate Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday, Gathungu asserted that she had fulfilled her constitutional duty by exposing flaws in the tender process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have concluded that there was no effectiveness or lawfulness in the use of public resources on these matters. There is the aspect of governance and risk management, and I have been very clear that there were issues,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Her remarks came as senators criticized her reports for lacking specific recommendations for prosecution. <\/p>\n<p>However, Gathungu pushed back, insisting that it was now Parliament\u2019s role to ensure accountability.<\/p>\n<p>Gathungu\u2019s 2023-2024 audit report revealed significant legal violations in the Sh104 billion procurement of SHA\u2019s technology system.<\/p>\n<p>The report highlighted unbudgeted and non-competitive procurement, an undefined scope of work, and a lack of payment agreements. <\/p>\n<p>It also flagged unfavourable contract clauses that cede control of the system to a private entity, barring government health agencies from accessing or modifying it.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 5 \u2013 Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has called for the immediate suspension of the Social Health Authority (SHA), urging the Ministry of Health to take swift action on what he termed as glaring operational failures. Omtatah also said SHA operations should be suspended until a thorough investigation is conducted following damning findings [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}