Just a day after President William Ruto dissolved his cabinet and sent his Cabinet secretaries packing, the Head of State has yet again suffered another blow with the court having declared Social Health Fund unconstitutional.
According to reports, the Social Health Fund has been declared unconstitutional by a three-judge bench comprising of Justices Alfred Mabeya, Robert Limo and Friday Mugambi.
Also Read: New Details Emerge After Another Woman Was Found Cut Into Pieces In Rift Valley
Reports indicate that in addition of declaring the rollout unconstitutional, the court also gave parliament until November 20th to make amends to the act before the rollout.
Parliament should therefore undertake adequate public participation in accordance with the constitution before enacting the same act and amending the unconstitutional provisions.
The decision was reached by the High court cited lack of public participation, adding that the Act which was to repeal the NHIF Act has disparities with the total nullification expected on the deadline.
The disparities were caused by the Social Health Insurance Fund burdening a few salaried individuals, thus creating a disparity in the contribution thus making the whole fund unconstitutional.
This ruling comes just 81 days before the scheduled rollout of SHIF, casting a shadow of uncertainty over the transition. The rollout was supposed to happen on July 1st but was pushed to October 1st over lack of preparedness.
Also Read: Former CS Aden Duale Pens An Emotional Message To President Ruto After Dismissal
This is another blow to President William Ruto with the series of anti-government protests forcing him to bow to the pressure and dissolve his cabinet on Thursday in a bid to cool down protests.