Governors accuse Kenya’s Health ministry of diverting Sh7b maternal care cash

Governors have sought the intervention of the Senate in getting Sh7.2 billion owed to them.

The money, they say, is meant for the free maternity programme that was initiated by the Government in 2013.

Council of Governors Chairman Peter Munya told the senators that the Government had refused to release the money, which is in arrears.

Mr Munya said county hospitals were "suffering" because the money for drugs and other consumables had been diverted to cater for the maternity programme, yet the national government had failed to refund it.

"It is very worrying, because we are spending money we are supposed to use as counties to buy drugs. Indeed, Sh7 billion was taken to the Ministry of Health, it was diverted to other uses, and that is why counties are suffering," said Munya at a meeting with senators in Nairobi's County Hall, yesterday.

Council of Governors Chairman Peter Munya responds when he met SenateAssembly Finance Committee. Governors have sought the intervention of the Senate in getting Sh7.2 billion owed to them. (PHOTO: BONIFACE OKENDO/ STANDARD)

He told the Senate's Finance and Budget Committee to grill the Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Maillu and the Principal Secretary Nicholas Muraguri to get answers as to where the Sh7 billion went.

"Counties may start charging for the maternity care to survive or else the hospitals will collapse," said Munya.

Munya was upset that Treasury sent the money to the Ministry of Health instead of sending it directly to the counties. He was also upset that Dr Muraguri had said the governors were treating the money as if it was "free lunch".

"It is the ministry that is supposed to tell you where they put the money. The ministry is trying to be powerful, nobody is asking for any free lunch. If we have provided a service that is funded through a national government programme, you are supposed to give us that money. It is not your money!" said Munya.

Treasury Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge, indeed, admitted before the senators that the flow of the free maternity money to the counties had been a problem.

He said the Health ministry had to be involved to look at the number of births and the conditions of maternal care, and then inform the Treasury the amount of money to be released to the counties.

"For accountability purposes, the Ministry of Health must be involved, that is the direction we would like to go. The people who know about the maternity care is not Treasury but the Ministry of Health. That is not really our core mandate, if we can release the funds directly to the counties so that the Ministry of Health is not tempted to use it on other things, then we would have captured accountability and the flow of funds," said Dr Thugge.

He said there had to be a "framework" that would ensure the money also goes to the hospitals in a timely manner "so that the hospitals do not suffer".

"Conditions must be met so that the money is released – for hospitals where the babies have been born. What we are trying to agree on now is the free flow of those resources," said Thugge.

Mutula Kilonzo Jr (Makueni) directed Munya to ensure that governors and Treasury come up with a mechanism to audit the conditional grants.

"We have the same query. We do not have a method of auditing the conditional grants," said Mr Kilonzo Jr at the meeting chaired by Billow Kerrow (Mandera).