We won’t remit new NHIF rates, employers vow

Employers and workers have announced that they will not remit the new NHIF rates as outlined by Medical Services minister Anyang’ Nyong’o.

According to a joint statement they issued, employers will not channel the new rates to the National Hospital Insurance Fund scheme on behalf of their employees.

“Alive to the fact that the recommendations of the special full board meeting of NHIF caretaker committee paved way for wider consultations with stakeholders, something that has been defied by the Medical Services minister, we ask all Kenyans not to allow deductions of new NHIF rates from their monthly earnings,” says the statement.

Breached agreement

The document was signed by Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) secretary-general Francis Atwoli and Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) executive director Jacqueline Mugo in Kisumu on Friday.

Mr Atwoli said the minister had blatantly breached an agreement on the matter and should, therefore, brace for a showdown with the trade unions and employers in the country.

“Who does Nyong’o think he is? We will paralyse the scheme he is introducing through the backdoor in order to force some sense into his head,” he warned,

Mr Atwoli said that Cotu obtained a court order on Friday morning compelling Prof Nyong’o to shelve the plan.

“We obtained an order from the Industrial Court this morning stopping the new rates from taking effect,” he said.

Mr Atwoli and Ms Mugo said that before any review is done on the insurance scheme, a total overhaul of the NHIF management and operations should be done to make it efficient.

“How can you just pump more billions into a body that is unable to prudently handle Sh3 billion? Is there any sense? Unless the money is meant for some ulterior motive,” he said.

Mrs Mugo said accountability in the management of the fund may not be guaranteed as the body does not have a substantive chairman currently.

“The current chairman is not gazetted, and so he cannot make substantive decisions,” she said.

But Prof Nyong’o dismissed allegations by the two, saying the new rates serve to provide healthcare to ordinary Kenyans who need it most.

“The kind of resistance we are facing is informed by some selfish dealers in health insurance business that fear being rendered obsolete,” he said. (READ: Employers fight new NHIF rates)