Former Health cabinet secretary Susan Nakhumicha on Thursday, August 29, 2024, handed over to her successor Deborah Mlongo Barasa in a short ceremony at Afya House.

“Former CS Nakhumicha S. Wafula expresses gratitude to the Ministry of Health team for their support as she hands over to the new CS, Dr. Deborah M. Barasa,” a statement from the Ministry read in part.

Before her dismissal from the cabinet on July 11, 2024, Nakhumicha had been appointed to the board of the World Economic Forum Global Alliance for Women’s Health.

In the role, Nakhumicha was to champion the well-being of women globally, promote their health and forge collaborations to enhance this mission.

Further, Nakhumicha was the chairperson for the health ministers conference for the East, Central, and South African Region (ECSA).

But before her appointment to the Ministry of Health, she served in various capacities across different fields in the health sector.

Nakhumicha worked at the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA), an institution which had been dogged by scandals of loss of millions.

She, however, states that the streamlining of operations at the agency and the elimination of corruption as some of her achievements during her stint at Afya House.

Also, Nakhumicha worked at the Mission for Essential Drugs Supply (MEDS) and was the head of the supply chain at the Institute for Global Health Sciences of the University of California, San Francisco.

It was after this that she ventured into politics and unsuccessfully vied for the position of woman representative in Trans-Nzoia County on a Ford-Kenya ticket.

A first-class honours student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Nakhumicha was appointed by Ruto to head the Ministry of Health.

Nakhumicha boasts achievements

At 43 years of age, Nakhumicha became among the youngest cabinet secretaries in Ruto’s first government in 2022 when she took over from Mutahi Kagwe.

She would serve the country at a time when the economy was recovering from the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and steer it for two years, albeit with challenges.

As she left office, Nakhumicha cited the doctors’ strike as one of her lowest moments at the helm of the ministry, adding that seeing patients in hospitals without doctors was a painful memory to live with.

However, she highlights the recruitment of over 100,000 community health providers, the operationalization of the Kenya BioVax Institute and the cleaning of KEMSA as some of her notable milestones.