Families of police officers did not receive claims for the death of their loved ones for the entire 2025 after the National Police Service (NPS) failed to remit premiums, exposing them to financial distress.
A report tabled in the National Assembly by one of the watchdog committees has revealed that the NPS did not remit Sh2 billion in premiums for a group life insurance policy to Britam, the private insurer contracted to offer the comprehensive cover.
As a result, in the whole of 2025, no claims were paid by Britam, said Bernice Lemedeket, the Secretary for Administration and the accounting officer for the NPS.
Ms Lemedeket said the Treasury only allocated NPS Sh2,295,594,440 for the financial year ending June 2023 against a budgetary requirement of Sh4,286,844,276 for the payment of premiums to Britam.
The difference of Sh1,991,249,836 was later allocated in the supplementary budget for that financial year, causing delays in premium payment.
“In the current financial year 2025/2026, for instance, the NPS has an approved budget of Sh1 billion against a request of Sh7.46 billion, thus a shortfall of Sh6.46 billion,” said Ms Lemedeket.
“In this regard, the insurer has only paid claims up to 31 December 2024.”
This means that for the whole of 2025, no claims on death or permanent disabilities of police officers or prison wardens were paid.
Claims totalling Sh220,138,900 remained unpaid as of November 2023, according to the report prepared by the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The PAC report—which examined the Auditor-General’s findings on the financial statements of the national government for the year ending June 2023—also shows that 312 officers had not been paid for injury.
Britam was awarded a contract of Sh5,082,499,671 to cover the relatives of 141,961 employees of the NPS and the Kenya Prisons Services, which was to initially run from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023.
We could not verify whether the contract has since been renewed as both NPS and Britam did not respond to our queries.
Because the law enforcement officers operate in a high-risk environment throughout, the Kenyan government procured Work Injury Benefits Act (WIBA) and Group Personal Accident (GPA) covers for police and prison officers starting on January 1, 2021.
The enhanced comprehensive policy was introduced to replace older, less effective schemes and was initially managed by the defunct National Health Insurance Fund before transitioning to private insurers.
Whereas WIBA covers work-related injuries, occupational diseases, death, or permanent disability, GPA gives 24-hour coverage regardless of whether they are at work, home, or on leave.
Official data shows that dozens of law enforcement officers die in the line of duty annually—most of them victims of terrorist attacks, violent protests, banditry, or armed robberies.
Nearly 20,000 police officers are currently experiencing depression or other psychological disorders. A report by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) found that between 2016 and 2020, there were 65 murders and 57 suicides within the ranks—an average of 13 murders and 11 suicides annually.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu noted that Britam was awarded a Sh5,082,499,671 contract to run from January 1 to December 31, 2023. The two insurance covers were for 141,961 persons, a big chunk—109,557—being employees of NPS. Kenya Prisons employees were 32,404.
“Clause 2.3.1 of the contract provides that upon death of a member, the member’s declared next of kin shall be paid a lump sum of five years (5) annual basic salary,” said Ms Gathungu, noting that Sh220.14 million had not been paid.
“This is contrary to the contract terms, which state that claims shall be paid within five (5) days after notification and provision of all documentation.”
Where an officer is out of work following an accident or as a result of illness, those members shall be entitled to compensation for loss of gross salary up to two years subject to the prevailing human resources policy at the time of injury or illness.
Besides underfunding, which was the main cause of delays in compensation of officers, NPS noted that non-payment was due to delay in submission of required documents to facilitate processing of benefits, family disputes, and disputed compensation.
Payments might also delay when the officers do not follow up on compensation when they recuperate and long recovery period.
Before the scheme was taken over by Britam, the comprehensive cover was being offered jointly by 11 insurance companies.
At the time, the Senate heard that the security officers were frustrated while pursuing their claims by these insurance companies.
But even then, it emerged that the government had not been releasing the premiums to the insurance companies in time to enable them to pay outstanding claims.
