Tetu MP questions Ruto-Trump health funding deal amid SHA jitters
By Loise Wambugu, December 7, 2025Tetu Member of Parliament Geoffrey Wandeto has raised concerns about the future of Kenya’s health sector, warning that the new partnership agreement signed between President William Ruto and the United States could expose crucial health funds to mismanagement.
Speaking on Saturday, December 6, 2025, at Ihururu Primary School during the 3rd Annual Free Medical and Legal Camp, where more than 6,000 patients were attended to, Wandeto said the overwhelming turnout reflected the country’s high disease burden and the growing desperation among ordinary Kenyans seeking medical care.
“We now see a shift where the Americans want to work directly with the government. I hope they know which government they are working with, and I hope they have done their homework because we are worried,” he said.
“Those of us who know how things go, those of us who know the sort of fraud and corruption we are dealing with in the healthcare system, are worried that this money may end up going into people’s pockets and not into saving patients’ lives,” Wandeti added.
Wandeto has questioned the new U.S.–Kenya health partnership, where funding for HIV and other health programmes will now flow directly to the government rather than through NGOs that previously managed key services.
He warned that these organisations had proven effective over the years, helping reduce HIV infections, maintain patients’ health, and ensure consistent access to ARVs. The legislator also criticised the state of the Social Health Authority (SHA), saying it is failing Kenyans who cannot access drugs in hospitals and cannot afford the new annual payment structure.
Our people are suffering. They cannot access drugs as they require, and they cannot be able to pay for SHA,” he said.
SHA concerns
The MP said that even though lawmakers pay monthly contributions, elderly Kenyans are being asked to pay annually whenever they need medical procedures, which most cannot afford.
“My grandmothers and grandfathers here are being asked to pay annually whenever they have a procedure that requires attention. Where will they get the money to pay?” he posed.
Wandeto said that despite massive investments in health systems, including a Ksh104 billion system meant to strengthen universal health coverage, fraud continues to plague the sector.
“We have invested heavily in systems, and yet a Ksh104 billion system is unable to detect the sort of fraud we keep encountering, where hospitals are making fraudulent claims at a big expense to universal health coverage,” he said.
The MP added that many Kenyans have struggled to access SHA services due to systems being down in hospitals, with devastating consequences.
“Everyone has an experience where they have taken a patient, and getting SHA services is a real struggle because the systems are down. I don’t know how many people we have lost, or should not have lost, since SHA came,” he lamented.