ENDEMIC CORRUPTION AT NHIF MAY BRING DOWN THE FUND

The Weekly Vision has learned that The National Hospital Insurance fund (NHIF) has also been caught up in a case of fraudulent claims with some junior staff within the organization pointing accusing fingers at the top management for perpetuating fraud.

NHIF CEO Geofray Mwangi

COTU secretary general Mr. Francis Atwoli has encouraged the director of public prosecution Noordin Haji to turn his attention to the NHIF offices saying that there is evidence that Kenyan workers contribution to the fund is being looted. This however is no longer news as it has been evident for a while now that there is endemic corruption being practiced at the institution and that urgent measures need to be taken to safeguard the interests of the general public.

DPP Noordin Haji

The Weekly Vision has learned that The National Hospital Insurance fund (NHIF) has also been caught up in a case of fraudulent claims with some junior staff within the organization pointing accusing fingers at the top management for perpetuating the fraud. The NHIF under the leadership of CEO Geofray Mwangi is said to have been losing millions of shillings through dubious claims from non-existent health institutions and some rogue health facilities.



Some of the institutions that had previously been suspended by the NHIF for lodging fictitious claims namely Texas Health Centre, Marura Health Centre and Utawala Health center have for some strange reasons been reinstated to offer President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Sh. 4.05 billion signature project of providing comprehensive medical cover to students. The cover is meant cater for all students in public secondary schools. The CEO Mr. Mwangi and the suspended head of procurement a Ms. Nyaboke are said to be under active investigations by the DCI over these and other fraudulent procurement related issues.

While conducting investigations for this story, this website managed to talk to a number of contributors to the fund and two of them told us that these problems affected almost all workers whose deductions are contributed monthly, it’s a matter of agency that the investigating authorities do as the COTU secretary general is suggesting. The interest of all workers is paramount.

The second contributor to the fund said that at NHIF, the basic short text messaging service doesn’t work, telephone customers service is not functional, front office workers are emotional and rude, offices are unkempt and that they looked like warehouses or stores in a go-down while some workers are ill-trained for the job, gloomy and speak to customers in vernaculars and lastly that there is no code of ethics within the institution. The place is quite disorderly.