On 22 November 2018, senators moved to force Health CS Sicily Kariuki to explain the Sh38 billion medical equipment leasing scheme after fresh claims that the arrangement was being run as a secret deal between the national government and suppliers.
The Senate said the questions were too serious to ignore. Kariuki was ordered to appear before a House committee the following Tuesday and account for the status of the equipment, the structure of the lease and the documents tied to the agreement.
At the centre of the row is a plan launched in February 2015 to improve access to specialised healthcare. What was presented as a way of bringing services closer to the public has instead become a source of anger over cost, oversight and transparency.
Lawmakers said they were alarmed by reports that the monthly charge had jumped from Sh4.5 billion, as agreed in 2015, to Sh9 billion. If that figure is correct, each county would now be expected to pay Sh200 million a year, up from the earlier Sh97.7 million.
The senators also want Kariuki to explain why the instruments of the agreement have not been deposited with the Senate, as required by law, even though the deal was signed three years earlier. They further want clarity on why the Senate was left out of both the agreement and the management of the universal healthcare programme.
Deputy Speaker Kithure Kindiki backed the order after Health Committee chairman Michael Mbito complained that the ministry had frustrated the committee and ignored the Senate’s role in the matter. Kindiki said some officials in the Executive appeared to treat other arms of government as subordinate.
“There is a tendency by some functionaries in the Executive to think that the other arms of the government are subservient. They think the other arms of government exist at the mercy of the Executive,” Prof Kindiki said.
He directed the CS to come with all records linked to the scheme and, if needed, an addendum showing how the annual contribution rose so sharply.
The pressure on the ministry came a week after the Council of Governors complained that money for the leasing programme was being deducted directly from county budgets, yet none of the 47 governors knew where it was going.
Mbito said Kariuki had misled his committee after promising to involve the Senate, only to change course later. Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen argued that the agreement had to be tabled in the House so legislators could exercise oversight under their constitutional mandate.
Murkomen also criticised governors for signing the deal and later complaining about it, saying they had helped enable wrongdoing. Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Junior said the leasing cost was effectively the same as buying the equipment and insisted that Kariuki must table three documents for scrutiny.
“The matter is too hot. Only governor refused to sign. The rest of governors signed under duress. This is a scandal because what will be used to pay the leasing scheme is equal to buying the equipment,” he said.
Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula said the arrangement was flawed because it even covered disposable items, including gloves and “other small things like hand towels”.
The Senate’s demand now puts the ministry under pressure to account for a programme that was sold in 2015 as a healthcare breakthrough, but is increasingly being treated in Parliament as a possible scandal of monumental proportions.
