President William Ruto has revealed how he personally intervened to resolve the standoff at St Mary’s Hospital over Social Health Authority payments that had recently sparked public concern.

Speaking at State House during a forum with teachers on Saturday, September 13, 2025, the president expressed his disappointment with the Catholic bishop in charge of the facility for raising alarm over claims that the Social Health Authority (SHA) had failed to remit funds to the hospital.

According to Ruto, those claims were misleading since SHA had made consistent payments to date.

“Juzi mliona kwa magazeti, bishop mmoja akisema sijui akisema hawa watu ni bure kabisa, SHA hakuna kitu wametulipa, only Ksh9 million na tumeweka claim ya Ksh100 million,” Ruto said.

“Nikaona sasa askofu ako na collar nikasema this must be serious nikapigia waziri nikamwambia umesikiza maneno ya hiyo askofu amesema Musalia amesema uwongo hakuna hatujapatiwa pesa.”

He pointed out that the bishop had claimed that the facility had only received Ksh 9 million, while in reality, Ksh 98 million had already been dispatched. The president explained that after hearing the bishop’s claims, he decided to personally intervene by calling the cabinet secretary in charge and instructing him to visit the hospital to verify the matter.

“Nikaambia waziri, ‘Enda kwa hospitali huko Mumias. Tunataka kusaidia askofu kufika Mumias. ‘Askofu amepatiwa bw. Askofu, ndio hii makaratasi.’ Hadi tukaita bank manager wao, akasema, ‘Tulipata Ksh98 million.’”

Duale’s intervention

Ruto further stated that when the CS arrived at the hospital, he sat down with the bishop and reviewed the financial records, even involving the bank manager of the facility.

The review confirmed that funds had indeed been disbursed to the hospital, aligning with an earlier statement by the Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi that Ksh88 million had been released.

According to the president, it was during this engagement that they discovered a total of Ksh98 million had been paid to the facility. The bishop later apologised and admitted that he had been misled.

“Askofu ndio huyo. Ooh, I am sorry; I was misled,” he added.

This comes after days of a standoff between SHA and St Mary’s Hospital over payment to the facility, with Duale intervening to solve the standoff.

The county Governor, Fernandez Barasa, confirmed payment of the money, saying that the remaining amount was to be paid in the coming weeks