A recruitment scandal has rocked the Social Health Authority (SHA) after it emerged that a candidate who was never shortlisted for a senior position was appointed, while others who sailed through the interviews were overlooked, exposing a flawed hiring process that critics say was manipulated to favour selected individuals.
At the heart of the controversy is a pattern of manipulation that began long before the interviews were conducted, with sources revealing that the shortlist for Administration Officer I was inflated from about 240 candidates to 441 after names were added from the Ministry of Health, some of whom had never even applied for the jobs.
"We were shocked when we saw the final shortlist," an insider familiar with the recruitment process told this publication.
"There were names on that list that we had never seen before. Some of those people had never even applied for the jobs."
The inflation of the shortlist was just the beginning, as sources claim the interviews conducted over four days in early August were nothing more than a formality, with the real decisions having been made long before any candidate walked into the interview room and the entire process designed to rubber-stamp pre-selected names.
"From those who scored 90% and above, almost none was appointed," another source said.
"The same applies to those who scored 80% and above. The appointments were not based on merit. They were based on connections."
The Social Health Authority, in its appointment document dated August 17, 2026, boasted of a "competitive and transparent recruitment process" that began on July 29, 2025, but the evidence on the ground tells a different story, with sources claiming that the list of candidates presented to management by the Human Resources department was different from the one that was forwarded to the board for approval.
"A decision had already been made on who would get the jobs. The HR department was given a list to follow," the insider said.
One of the most glaring cases is that of Hussein Abdi, whose name appears on the appointments list but is nowhere to be found on the official shortlist for Administration Officer I, having been listed among the 47 appointees announced by SHA on August 17, 2026, yet a thorough review of the shortlist document confirms that he was never among those called for interview.
"It is impossible to appoint someone who was never shortlisted," a source familiar with recruitment regulations said.
"The entire process is designed to ensure that only those who have been vetted through interviews are considered for appointment. When you bypass that step, you are not just breaking the rules. You are undermining the integrity of the entire institution."
The case of Hussein Abdi is not an isolated one, sources said, with several other candidates who were appointed either scoring below the advertised 70 per cent threshold or never even sitting for interviews, while those who performed well and scored 80 per cent and above were almost all locked out of the appointments.
"The whole process was a sham," the insider said.
"People who deserved the jobs were pushed aside because they did not have the right connections. The people who were appointed were not the best candidates. They were the best connected."
The Public Service Commission (PSC) guidelines on recruitment require that all appointments be based on merit, fairness, and transparency, but the SHA recruitment appears to have violated every one of those principles, with the Authority yet to respond to questions about why Hussein Abdi was appointed without being shortlisted, why the shortlist was inflated with names of candidates who never applied, and why candidates who scored below 70% were appointed ahead of those who performed well.
The revelations have also turned the spotlight on Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Aden Duale, whose ministry oversees the Authority.
Sources say the manipulation of the recruitment process could not have happened without the knowledge or tacit approval of senior officials within the ministry, raising uncomfortable questions about whether the rot extends beyond SHA and into the corridors of the Ministry of Health.
Civil society groups and recruitment experts have called for the immediate suspension of the recruitment process and the constitution of an independent inquiry to investigate the manipulation of the shortlist, the appointment of Hussein Abdi without being shortlisted, and the broader pattern of disregard for merit across SHA.
Dr. Mercy Mwangangi and her team must answer for what has happened under their watch, but sources insist that this goes beyond SHA and that the Health Cabinet Secretary must also be held accountable, as he is the one who has the final say and cannot hide behind the Authority.
This is not the first time the SHA has been accused of flouting recruitment rules, as the agency has previously faced criticism over opaque hiring practices, but the latest revelations suggest a deeper rot within the institution where processes are routinely bypassed and merit is sacrificed for personal connections.
The revelations are likely to spark outrage among job seekers who applied for the positions and went through the rigorous interview process, only to lose out to candidates who never even made it to the interview room, leaving many to wonder how many more candidates were appointed without being shortlisted, how many qualified Kenyans were pushed aside because they did not have the right connections, and who authorised the manipulation of the recruitment process.
Until those questions are answered, the integrity of SHA's leadership remains in question.
