Ruto revealed that Mohammed will serve in the new role for a period of three years, effective immediately.
President William Ruto has appointed Dr Mohammed Abdi Mohammed as the chairperson of the Social Health Authority (SHA), with now two weeks to go to the new health insurance platform, the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF)’s official rollout.
In a Kenya Gazette notice seen by Viral Tea dated Tuesday, September 17, Ruto revealed that Mohammed will serve in the new role for a period of three years, effective immediately.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 7 (1) (a) of the Social Health Insurance Act, I, William Samoei Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya and the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces, appoint- Mohammed Abdi Mohammed (Dr.) to be the Chairperson of the Social Health Authority, for a period of three (3) years, with effect from the 17th September 2024,” the notice read in part.
Mohammed’s appointment means that his previous role as a member of the SHA stands revoked. He replaces Timothy Olweny, who held the position for 10 months since his appointment in November 2023.
Photo of Dr Mohammed Abdi Mohammed, newly appointed as the chairperson of the Social Health Authority (SHA). /EAST AFRICAN HEALTH EXPO 2023
Rather than oust Olweny, Ruto’s government through Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Dr Deborah Barasa reassigned him to the Chairperson of the Board of the National Cancer Institute, for a period of three (3) years, with immediate effect. “The appointment of Dr Gitahi Githinji is revoked,” read part of the gazette notice.
Prior to his appointment, Dr. Mohamed has been serving as an independent board director for SHA since January 2024.
These appointments come hours after the Ministry of Health compelled all employers in the country to ensure that all their employees are registered on SHIF, noting that the current health insurance scheme, the National Health Insurance Fund(NHIF) will cease to function on September 30, 2024, as all health insurance will be transitioned to SHIF.
Employers were directed to update their systems so that employees’ insurance proceeds would be submitted to the new scheme on the employers’ portal.
How to Register
Once on the portal, the employers will be able to create an account for their employees which will be used to manage the contributions to the scheme depending on their contribution frequency. They will then be prompted to verify the information they upload using a set of instructions from the Social Health Authority (SHA).
Employers will then be prompted to enter their employees’ details and be able to register them on the SHIF portal. The system will then be able to accept their contributions which should be made via the portal on time.
Employers were also asked to ensure and manage changes in employee details to the scheme as per the law. They will also be required to generate reports, access and download contribution reports on behalf of their staff as well as update their information on their dependents.
The employers will be required to log onto the portal dedicated by the SHA, which will serve as their primary tool in managing their employees’ contributions to the scheme.
The government directed all employers to ensure that all their employees are registered with SHA before October 1, though a High Court ruling that initially declared two sections of the Social Health Insurance Act (SHIA) unconstitutional leaves the government’s wishes for a huge uptake of SHA in limbo.
The Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi. /FILE