Gov’t Officials Rush To Defend, Rubbish Catholic Bishops’ Remarks On State Of The Nation
The government, through the Ministries of Health, Education, and the Inspector General of Police, condemned the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement as incorrect and misleading to the public.
Catholic Bishops warn of declining confidence in govt over 'a culture of lies' pic.twitter.com/CyuEQQUYZF
— Capital FM Kenya (@CapitalFMKenya) November 14, 2024
Statements released by Cabinet Secretaries of Health, Deborah Mulongo, her Education counterpart, Migos Ogamba and IG Douglas Kanja have blamed the bishops for disregarding significant progress made by the government.
Especially, on issues related to the Social Health Authority, the university education funding model, the CBC and investigations into extrajudicial killings and abductions in the country.
CS Deborah dismissed claims by the KCCB of the Ministry’s unwillingness to settle debts owed to the faith-based hospitals accrued under the defunct National Health Insurance Fund.
She stressed that the government was committed to settling all obligations acquired by NHIF through the newly created SHA.
The Church accused the government of failing to keep its promise to clear billions in arrears.
Dr Barasa highlighted that so far, Ksh.7.58 billion had been set aside to pay the debt she said today amounts at Ksh.19 billion.
“The Government takes great exception to the misleading, erroneous and false statement issued by Catholic Church Bishops on obligations owed by the Government through the defunct NHIF,” stated Barasa.
“As of 4th October 2024, the defunct NHIF owed Ksh.19B to various healthcare providers, debts accrued over a period of more than 10 years.”
Today, I had the privilege of joining stakeholders from the cooperative sector and Members of Parliament from the Western region to share updates on our progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Since the rollout of the Social Health Authority (SHA), over 14 million… pic.twitter.com/qWjGa54K9a
— Dr Deborah Mlongo Barasa (@DeboraBarasa) November 14, 2024
The CS went on to say that SHA has paid out Ksh.5,051,202,052.30 to various providers, including Ksh.938,605,212 to health institutions operated by faith-based groups.
The remaining Ksh.2.5 billion will be disbursed by next week, with the majority of institutions run by the Catholic Church.
“It is worth noting that the defunct NHIF had contracts with 8,886 facilities, encompassing public, private and faith-based organisations,” she said.
“312 of these facilities are owned by faith-based organisations, representing 3.5% of all contracted providers.”
Education CS Ogamba, for his part, took issue with the clergy for questioning the progress made by the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) and new University Funding Model.
The CBC was established in 2017, and the new University Funding model debuted this year. The CS stated that progress had been achieved in both initiatives.
According to Ogamba, the Church mischaracterized the two projects as ‘crumbling’ because the government had previously made substantial headway in implementing both programs by investing heavily in them.
Education CS Julius Migos Ogamba’s statement released today pic.twitter.com/FKPTAXxzYj
— Ministry of Education, Kenya (MoE) (@EduMinKenya) November 14, 2024
“The introduction of the Student-Centred Funding Model followed recommendations by the Working Party,” read a section of the statement.
“Since it was rolled out in 2023, the model has eased the financial burden in universities, which had been indebted to the tune of Ksh 70 billion, with many technically insolvent.”
“The merits of CBC and its structure have been subjected to extensive stakeholder consultation and public participation. These included the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, who participated in the work of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform.”
As a result, IG Kanja accused the Church of ignoring the activities of security services in terms of abductions, torture, killings, and the increasing murder of women in the country.
The police chief emphasized the progress of investigations, noting that the NPS had already made 1552 arrests nationwide in connection with the incidents and established dedicated Missing Persons Units and Gender Desks to address escalating abductions and femicides respectively.
“NPS recorded 495 injuries to police officers, 347 injuries to civilians, 42 civilian fatalities, and 69 cases of serious damage to government vehicles,” stated Kanja.
“In addition, there were 57 reported cases of missing persons, of which 22 were found alive,6 were found dead while 29 are still unaccounted for and serious efforts by police are underway to trace them. During the protests, NPS made 1552 arrests countrywide.”
He added, “All cases of deaths where police officers were implicated have been taken over by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) and we are collaborating with IPOA and DPP in these investigations.
“All cases of abductions are being investigated by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and we are making good progress in that direction.”
Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot also called KCCB’s statement ‘unfortunate’.
The Bill the Catholic Bishops are referring to was rejected by Senate's Justice committee a long time ago . It died before seeing light of day.
— Aaron Cheruiyot (@Aaroncheruiyot) November 14, 2024
A simple Google search would have helped them establish that.
NHIF owed hospitals 30B plus before Sept 2022.
That debt burden has…
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“It is unfortunate that religious leaders are resorting to sweeping generalities,” read Cheruiyot’s statement.
“If they have an issue with an individual leader, they should seek redress through the relevant constitutional agencies instead of condemning the entire legislature…”
Kimani Ichung’wah, his National Assembly colleague, stated the bishops were ‘politically partisan persons’.
Dear Catholic Bishops,
— Kimani Ichung’wah (@KIMANIICHUNGWAH) November 14, 2024
Let us all be HONEST. If you have any information on corrupt legislators, pls furnish info to investigate agencies or just name them and shame them.
On this Cherargei bill that died in the senate for lack of support , how does a dead private members bill… pic.twitter.com/rZlqAfjz9s
“The drafter of this statement is portraying you either as liars or as politically partisan people seeking to play to a political gallery,” Ichung’wah stated.
Gov’t Officials Rush To Defend, Rubbish Catholic Bishops’ Remarks On State Of The Nation
