Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has addressed the long-standing impasse at St Mary’s Hospital in Kakamega County, blaming the facility’s continued closure on the owners.

Speaking on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, Duale revealed that outstanding SHA dues to the faith-based facility had been paid even as the hospital remains closed.

“St Mary’s has been used for many months for political expediency. I went there with the whole of my team and sat with the bishop. We showed him that SHA has paid him KSh90 M, and we gave him the TeT transfer, and the balance at the time was Ksh14 billion, which we have paid,” he said.

“It’s you to ask why the facility remains closed. The problem is the management and the leadership,” he stated.

Playing politics

The CS, while defending the Social Health Authority (SHA) programme over its success across the country, warned against attempts to politicise the healthcare system.

“Let us not use St Mary’s for politics. Politicians should now look at something else. You cannot use it as a political tool. SHA is working. You can have a problem with President Ruto’s administration, but SHA is working,” he added.

Duale also decried instances where county health employees own private medical premises and direct government resources to their own private firms.

He urged the Senate and the Council of Governors to come up with ways of discussing and redressing the challenge as a matter of urgency.