The Unravelling of Universal Health Care

I am Brian from The Kenyan Wall Street…

In today's newsletter edition, the Social Health Authority (SHA) is meant to be the crown jewel of universal health coverage but has become a magnet for suspicion. Also, the Energy Ministry is setting its sights on the nascent oilfields in the North.

The Unravelling of Universal Health Care

Kenya’s universal healthcare dream is buckling under bureaucratic sleight-of-hand and billions in unpaid debts.

By Brian Nzomo

Kenya’s promise of free healthcare now comes with a cruel irony, as private hospitals are weighed down by more than KSh 76 billion in reimbursements that have yet to materialize. What was meant to be the dawn of a seamless Social Health Authority has, instead, turned into a digital mirage where delays are prominent, efficiency staged in press conferences, while invoices grow stale in filing cabinets.

Some hospitals say they have been erased altogether from the system, their beds deleted with the click of a bureaucratic mouse, as if physical wards and crying mothers could be reduced to data-entry anomalies. The very reforms designed to secure universal coverage have become the reason providers are switching to cash-only models, an irony not lost on patients in the arid north where private hospitals are often the only lifeline.

Meanwhile, claims are spilling over social media pages that millions have been disbursed to dispensaries with few to no operations, outpacing disbursements to crucial health facilities. The Ministry of Health has vehemently denied these reports but this has done nothing to quell the growing concern that SHA is a house of cards…

Read full article here >>>>>

Parliament Proposes New Use of Aviation Levy Proceeds

By Fred Obura 

Parliament has begun reshaping how Kenya spends its aviation levy a fee built into every airline ticket that until now has largely funded airports and regulators. A new bill would widen the circle of beneficiaries bringing in the Tourism Fund and the newly minted Meteorological Service Authority alongside the traditional aviation agencies. Lawmakers argue that accurate forecasts and sustained tourism marketing are as essential to air travel as runways and control towers yet both institutions have lacked secure revenue streams. The Cabinet Secretary will still hold power to adjust the US$50 international charge and the KSh 600 domestic fee by gazette notice a discretion that keeps the levy politically sensitive. With second reading cleared the measure now moves into committee stage where the quiet tug of war over billions in passenger proceeds is likely to sharpen. Read more here »»»»»

CS Wandayi Forms Taskforce to Fast-Track Oil Discoveries Development

By Fred Obura

Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi has formed a high level committee tasked with accelerating Kenya’s long stalled oil dreams from discovery to export. Known as the First Oil Technical Commercial and Legal Working Committee it will negotiate agreements with contractors while drafting the policy and regulatory scaffolding needed for full field development. The committee’s remit stretches from securing land access to advising on commercial frameworks and even hiring outside experts to plug technical gaps. Officials argue that such a body is essential to safeguard national interests as oil blocks T6 and T7 inch toward long awaited production. Yet for all the careful mandates and detailed roadmaps the real question is whether Kenya can finally turn paper promises into flowing barrels. Read more here >>>>>

Capital Markets 

A trillion-shilling market under Mwiti 

By Harry Njuguna 

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has climbed out of its long trough and into a season of unlikely plenty adding nearly a trillion shillings in paper wealth under its new chief. Indices that once staggered are suddenly brushing levels unseen in years as if the market had remembered an old confidence. Analysts speak of stronger earnings and returning foreigners though what draws capital back is never quite so neat. A handful of counters have soared while others remain stranded suggesting a tide that lifts only the most agile boats. Read more here >>>>>

Longhorn’s CEO Exits After Tumultuous Run

By Harry Njuguna

Longhorn Publishers is set for a leadership shake-up. CEO Maxwell Wahome will step down in September after nine years at the Nairobi-listed firm, seven of them as chief executive. His tenure spanned expansion into West and Central Africa, a major digital pivot, and the fraught rollout of Kenya’s competency-based curriculum. But the years weren’t smooth: profits swung wildly, from a turnaround in 2021 to a record KSh 571 million loss in 2023. Former boss Simon Ngigi will return as acting CEO, tasked with steadying a publisher still caught between government textbook cycles and the fast-shifting digital learning market. Read more here »»»»»

NSE Gainers & Losers 

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INSIGHT : Offshore Havens Soak Up Nearly a Quarter of Kenya’s Capital Outflows

By Brian Nzomo

Kenya is exporting more capital than ever with record sums finding their way into offshore havens from the Isle of Man to Hong Kong. Outflows have ballooned even as foreign investors pull back leaving the country with its widest imbalance on record. The surge points to a deeper shift Kenyan firms and investors are building positions abroad faster than they are attracting reciprocal flows. That makes Kenya look less like a magnet for capital and more like a source of it. Whether this reshaping of the financial map strengthens resilience or drains liquidity at home is the question now in play. Read more here »»»»»

Also Read 

Stories you missed 

♦️ Aviation. The COMESA Competition Commission has opened an inquiry into the proposed acquisition of two planes currently leased in Kenya.

♦️ Economy. S&P Global Ratings has upgraded Kenya’s long-term sovereign credit rating to ‘B’ from ‘B-’, citing reduced near-term external liquidity risks.

♦️ Banking. Prime Bank Group, Kenya’s biggest Tier II bank and tenth largest overall by market share, has posted a 22.4% rise in net profits.

♦️ Economy. Foreign investors in Kenya have raised concerns over high electricity costs, regulatory bottlenecks, tax administration, and corruption.

♦️Industry. Lauritz Knudsen Electrical & Automation, a global leader in the electrical and automation industry, has officially launched its operations in Kenya.

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