- President William Ruto, on October 19, signed the Act into law.
- SHIF Act, 2023, is one of the four health laws Ruto approved alongside the Facilities Improvement Financing Bill, 2023; the Primary Healthcare Bill, 2023; and the Digital Health Bill, 2023.
Image: PCS
The Kenya National Civil Society Centre has called on the government to correct a section of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) Act 2023, that is unconstitutional.
Executive Director Suba Churchill said section 26 (5) of the Act that requires proof of membership as precondition to access national and county government services, is unconstitutional and should be corrected to align it with the supreme law as a matter of agency.
By making it mandatory, the drafters took away the right and freedom of everyone to freely and voluntarily choose to be a member, including those who are adults and are capable of making informed choices and decisions.
The section states: “a person who is registerable as a member under this Act shall produce proof of compliance with the provisions of this Act on registration and contribution as a precondition of dealing with or accessing public services from the National government, county government or national or county government entity”.
Everyone must have an SHIF card to apply for PIN number which citizens are entitled to without any conditions.
It is clear, he said, it would be beyond SHIF law to require proof of compliance with the SHIF as a precondition for access to public services from national and county governments.
President William Ruto, on October 19, signed the Act into law.
SHIF Act, 2023, is one of the four health laws Ruto approved alongside the Facilities Improvement Financing Bill, 2023; the Primary Healthcare Bill, 2023; and the Digital Health Bill, 2023.
“It should still have been obvious to the drafters that making it mandatory that every citizen, and non-Kenyans resident in Kenya to register with the SHIF, limits people’s freedom of choice and association as guaranteed in Article 36 of the constitution,” he said in statement released Monday.
He said the right to freedom of association cannot override the right to leave, or not join at all an association of any kind as contemplated in Article 36 of the constitution.
“Having read through the gazetted law, KNCSC has come to the inevitable conclusion that unless the offending sections are corrected in good time, and before its programmes are rolled out, law abiding Kenyans will be left with no option other than to challenge the constitutionality of the transgressing sections of the law that are in blatant conflict with the constitution,” he said.
He said the objectives set out under the SHIF law do not provide sufficient grounds to warrant the limitations on rights of citizens to government services as the offending clauses of the law seems to suggest.