Mumias East Member of Parliament Peter Salasya has launched a scathing attack on the government’s Social Health Authority (SHA) rollout, warning that failures in the new system are hurting ordinary Kenyans at their most vulnerable moments.

In a statement shared on X on Sunday, February 1, 2026, Salasya accused the Kenya Kwanza administration of rolling out a health policy that is failing patients, hospitals and healthcare workers across the country.

The MP said his concerns were informed by reports from public hospitals where patients are being turned away, asked to pay cash, or left confused as health facilities struggle to navigate the new system.

Salasya argued that healthcare delivery has become unpredictable and unreliable, especially for poor families who depend entirely on public facilities.

Salasya described the SHA rollout as harmful and insensitive, saying it has deepened suffering instead of fixing long-standing problems in the health sector.

“What we are witnessing under the Kenya Kwanza regime is not reform; it is cruelty disguised as policy. The so-called SHA system is systematically choking healthcare delivery, locking out hospitals, confusing providers, and leaving ordinary Kenyans stranded at their most vulnerable moments. When a mother is turned away from a public hospital, when a patient is asked to pay cash because ‘the system is down,’ that is not a technical glitch; it is state failure. Healthcare is not an experiment, and Kenyans are not test subjects,” the statement reads.

Direct message to Ruto

The lawmaker went on to directly fault President William Ruto’s administration, arguing that the promise of universal healthcare has not matched the reality on the ground.

He said dismantling the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) without a stable replacement has exposed patients and strained hospitals.

Salasya questioned the planning behind the new system and said healthcare workers are overwhelmed as patients bear the cost of government failures.

“President Ruto must be told plainly: this SHA rollout is a scam in practice, whether by incompetence or design. You cannot dismantle NHIF, promise universal healthcare, then replace it with a half-baked digital structure that collapses on contact with reality. Doctors are frustrated, hospitals are suffocating, and patients are paying the price sometimes with their lives. No amount of press conferences or slogans will mask the suffering happening quietly in wards across the country,” the statement reads.

Salasya warned that responsibility for the crisis cannot be shifted away if the situation worsens. He said leaders will be held accountable by the public for the outcomes of policies they champion.

The MP urged the President to urgently reconsider the SHA rollout, warning that continued inaction would have deadly consequences.

“History is unforgiving. When Kenyans start dying because they cannot access healthcare, blame will not be shifted to ‘systems,’ ‘contractors,’ or ‘previous regimes.’ It will settle squarely on the desk of the man in charge. President, re-examine this policy urgently. Fix it, pause it, or scrap it, but do not ignore it. A government that plays games with healthcare eventually answers to the graves it created,” he concluded.