A union representing workers who served under the defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) has accused the government of allegedly locking out its members from jobs at the new Social Health Authority (SHA), threatening to move to court if the recruitment format is not corrected.
The Kenya Union of Commercial Food and Allied Workers claimed more than 80 percent of NHIF’s former staff have been sidelined in the hiring of officers to run the new public health insurer, despite a law requiring that they be given priority.
The union's acting Secretary-General Andrew M’Mukiri said the ongoing recruitment has ignored guarantees in the Social Health Insurance Act, which replaced NHIF with SHA under the government’s Universal Health Coverage plan.
“There is a deliberate effort to kick out more than 80 percent of the workers of the defunct NHIF. This is a violation of the law and of promises made by the President during the reform process,” Mr M’Mukiri said.
“While the SHIF Act 2023 explicitly states that NHIF employees should be given priority consideration in the employment process, the ongoing recruitment process seems to be overlooking this provision, leaving many employees of the defunct NHIF feeling disenfranchised and uncertain about their future.”
The union accuses the SHA board of conducting a fresh hiring exercise that excluded experienced NHIF staff who had run Kenya’s health insurance for years.
On Thursday, the union gave the board 72 hours to halt the recruitment and review the process or face legal action.
“... we are contemplating moving to court to seek to declare the whole process a violation of the law in the event we don’t receive a favourable response from the SHA Board within the next 72 hours,” said M’Mukiri.
SHA was established last year to replace the troubled NHIF as part of sweeping reforms to deliver the UHC plan. The transition has, however, been messy, with questions emerging over how thousands of NHIF employees would be absorbed.
Several health sector unions have already raised concerns that the transition was rushed, warning that ignoring the existing workforce could lead to disruptions and legal disputes that delay implementation.
If the hiring standoff escalates into court action, it could stall staffing of the new authority and cast doubt on the government’s ability to deliver on its flagship healthcare reform.
