President William Ruto on Friday cast his government’s Social Health Authority (SHA) reforms as a key political battleground ahead of the 2027 General Election, accusing opposition leaders of seeking to reverse gains in healthcare by pledging to abolish the scheme and restore the defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).

Speaking on Saturday, July 25, 2026, at State House during a meeting with more than 7,000 Nairobi County Community Health Promoters, Ruto said dismantling SHA would undermine efforts to expand access to healthcare, improve hospital financing and sustain reforms introduced under his administration.

“Those people telling us to go back to a system that was not working are a very risky lot for our nation,” Ruto said, referring to opposition leaders who have vowed to abolish SHA if elected in 2027.

The president said SHA has enrolled 32 million Kenyans, up from about eight million under NHIF, and increased payments to hospitals to Ksh12 billion every month from Ksh5.6 billion every three months under the previous scheme. Reuters could not independently verify the figures.

Healthcare has emerged as one of the main policy fault lines between Ruto’s government and the opposition, with the administration portraying SHA as a cornerstone of its universal health coverage agenda while opposition leaders argue the programme should be scrapped and replaced if they win power in the next election.

Ruto’s remarks came as the SHA continued implementing the reforms by inviting healthcare providers with verified outstanding Ksh10 million and below from the defunct NHIF to seek clarification over the amounts communicated before a July 31 deadline.

SHA said facilities that have not completed the sign-off process should submit supporting documents, including claim reference numbers and reconciliation statements, for review. The authority said it would assess all submissions within three weeks after the deadline and communicate the outcome to individual healthcare providers.

The review is part of SHA’s efforts to resolve legacy NHIF payment disputes as the government presses ahead with the rollout of its new healthcare financing system.

Opposition to SHA

Even as the Head of State maintains that the health scheme is better, Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua had warned that SHA is on the brink of collapse, claiming that the health system has not been working for the past four days.

Speaking during a United Alternative Government press briefing on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, the former DP insisted that the looming SHA failure could trigger a nationwide crisis in service delivery.

“I just want to say that a few months ago, I said SHA will collapse in six months, for the last four days the systems are down, that is a sign of collapse,” Gachagua stated.

Gachagua and other opposition leaders have been vocal on the health issue, raising alarm with the SHA system, maintaining that unpaid bills owed by the SHA to hospitals, particularly faith‑based and private facilities, are undermining the entire health system.

For instance, the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP ) leader claims that at the moment, the facilities are owed by the government up to Ksh90 million, and the debt might lead to the hospitals shutting down.