The Lower Eastern Times Opening The Third Eye
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By: Vincent Mumba
Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization (WHO) served as a brutal wake-up call for Kenya, exposing the country’s alarming reliance on foreign aid—especially in the health sector.
Despite being an independent nation for over six decades, Kenya still struggles to provide quality healthcare for its citizens, forcing many to depend on donor funding for essential medicines and treatment. This is despite the fact that billions are deducted from workers’ salaries every month for health insurance, which is supposed to guarantee them medical care.
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The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), now rebranded as the Social Health Authority (SHA), was meant to be a lifeline, yet public hospitals remain severely underfunded, understaffed, and ill-equipped. Instead of receiving the services they’ve paid for, desperate patients are turned away or forced to dig deep into their pockets for treatment in private hospitals. This glaring failure raises serious questions: where does all the money go, and why is the healthcare system still on life support after all these years?
It is a tragic irony that 60 years after independence, Kenya still lacks the capacity to manufacture life-saving drugs or equip its hospitals to handle even basic medical emergencies. Instead, we continue to rely on expensive imports while politicians fight over who controls procurement deals instead of fixing the broken system. Why should Kenyans still be dying because there are no ICU beds, no cancer treatment centers, and no stocked pharmacies in public hospitals? How can we claim to be an independent nation if we must fly abroad for treatment every time a senior government official falls sick?
The Kenyan government never seems to have money for healthcare, but billions are always available for vanity projects and political extravagance. While hospitals remain underfunded, the State House in Nairobi was recently renovated at an eye-watering KSh 1.3 billion—because, apparently, fixing furniture is more urgent than fixing a collapsing health system. Meanwhile, the President and his entourage continue to take endless trips abroad, burning millions in travel expenses while ordinary Kenyans struggle to afford painkillers.
Even more infuriating is the seemingly limitless budget being funneled into Raila Odinga’s bid for the African Union (AU) Commission chairmanship. Kenyans are being forced to tighten their belts under heavy taxation, yet millions are mysteriously available to fund a campaign that benefits a single politician.
The same politicians who fail to supply hospitals with medicine are the loudest in political rallies, preaching about development while doing nothing to fix the mess they created. They argue about 2027 elections while cancer patients are dying in agony, unable to afford treatment. They are quick to debate the next tax hike but never prioritize local pharmaceutical industries that could reduce our reliance on imports.
If Kenya cannot manufacture its own medicine, if it cannot provide quality healthcare for its citizens despite decades of collecting taxes, and if it continues prioritizing political games over national well-being, can we truly say we are independent?
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Kenyan leaders must stop playing politics with people’s lives. It is time for action, not empty rhetoric. If billions can be found for State House renovations and global lobbying, then surely, the same urgency can be applied to fixing hospitals, equipping doctors, and ensuring that no Kenyan dies simply because they were born in the wrong country. Enough is enough!
The writer is journalism student Mount Kenya University. He tweets at @therealvin_mumba.
