Kenya seems to be going through an unprecedented time as the citizens are treated to a bizarre circus of almost all government-initiated projects going up in smoke either due to poor implementation strategies or lack of foresight at the formulation stage.
Patients have had to dig deeper into their pockets as the government pushed the implementation of the Social Health Insurance Fund SHIF.
Seemingly putting on a thick skin, President William Ruto continuously released press statements in defence of the rollout of SHIF that saw thousands of patients without money to pay for their treatment being turned away by service providers, particularly at dialysis and chemotherapy centres, citing unpaid debts and unresolved technical issues in the transition from the defunct NHIF.
Though the transition to SHIF was intended to streamline healthcare services and allow Kenyans access to quality and affordable medicare, the resulting reality was total chaos in the health sector.
Thousands of patients were left stranded and unable to access critical treatments, with kidney and cancer patients either being forced to reschedule their dialysis and chemotherapy sessions despite the severe consequences or pay for them out of their own pockets.
The rollout of SHIF is just one of the several projects formulated and executed by the Kenya Kwanza reign that depict it as “turbulent, disorganised and not focussed and, as a government that seems to find pleasure in making life harder for the common man”.
Before SHIF, the government had received a backlash over its spirited push to implement a new university funding model that locked out thousands of students from vulnerable families.
Targeting student equity and price discrimination to reflect programme costs has remained insufficient to address university funding challenges created by neoliberalism.
Students at public universities have apparently been forced to live with the mess created by the new funding model despite the formation of a task force to look into it.
The rejection of the 2024 Finance Bill after street protests by Generation Z not only left President Ruto with a bitter taste in the mouth but also dealt a crippling blow to his legacy projects and 2027 election plans.
From the affordable housing scheme and economic recovery to refurbishment of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the fight against corruption, everything that the Kenya Kwanza government lays its hands on seems to end in a shambles, lending credence to claims that President Ruto lacks a proper framework to implement policies in a professional manner.
