The government through the Ministries of Health, Education and Inspector General of Police have come out to slam a statement issued by the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB).
Health CS Deborah Mulongo, Education CS Migos Ogamba and the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja have all accused the bishops for not looking at the significant progress they have made on matters health, the university funding model and investigations into the extrajudicial killings.
According to the Health CS, the government has not shown signs of not willing to settle debts owed to faith based hospitals under the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
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He continued by confirming that the government has set aside Ksh 7.5 billion to pay the debts under NHIF which currently stand 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.
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.” she said
“The Government is fully committed to settling these historical debts and consequently in the last month, Ksh. 7.58 billion was mobilised to pay these debts.” she added.
Her counterpart, the Education CS noted that the new university funding model has eased the financial burden on universities that already have a debt of Ksh 70 billion to pay and that the CBC has undergone a thorough stakeholders consultation.
““The introduction of the Student-Centred Funding Model followed recommendations by the Working Party. 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.” he said
The police IG taking note of 97 cases of femicide reported in the country in three months, said that they have conducted investigations, identified the perpetrators and arraigned them to court.
“NPS recorded 495 injuries to police officers, 347 injuries to civilians, 42 civilian fatalities, and 69 cases of serious damage to government vehicles. 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.
In response to the current prevalent murder of women witnessed in the country, we have recorded 97 deaths in the past three months. In most of the cases reported, we have effectively investigated, identified the culprits and arraigned them before the court.” said Police IG Douglas Kanji
