More than 54,000 inmates have registered with the Social Health Authority (SHA) across the country, Correctional Services PS Salome Muhia has disclosed.
Muhia said the ongoing registration of inmates with SHA in Kenyan prisons is nearing the 60,000 mark.
“The president has pronounced that all of us must register with SHA. Everybody in the civil service is contributing part of their salary towards SHA. It’s important that all Kenyans benefit from universal healthcare,” she said.
The PS was speaking on Thursday when she presided over the national monthly Tree Planting Greening Kenya initiative at Machakos GK Prison.
She noted it was the first time the government had succeeded in registering all Kenyans under SHA.
“So far, over 24 million Kenyans have registered with SHA. That translates to more than 50,000 people daily. In prisons, over 54,000 inmates have registered, and the number is now approaching 60,000,” Muhia said.
She revealed that SHA registration in prisons began two months ago and expressed optimism that all inmates would soon be enrolled.
“We should pay premiums for SHA. Since healthcare is a right under Article 43 of the Constitution, it must also be extended to inmates,” she added.
Muhia confirmed that all prison officers have been registered under SHA following a presidential directive to extend the service to inmates.
She urged Kenyans not to sell their goats, cows, land, or other property, or quit jobs to cover medical expenses, noting that Taifa Care caters for individuals unable to afford SHA premiums.
“For inmates, the National Treasury will fund the premiums. This is an essential service, and we hope to conclude the exercise soon. It is being undertaken alongside registration of persons by the State Department for Immigration,” she said.
During the event, Muhia led multi-agency teams in planting trees at the Machakos Probation Office as well as the Machakos Male and Female prisons.
She said the exercise is part of the government’s monthly Tree Planting Greening Kenya Initiative.
“We expect to plant 1,500 trees in this prison. Across the country, we aim to plant about 50,000 trees today as part of our effort to green Kenya and achieve the presidential target of 15 billion trees by the end of 2032,” Muhia stated.
Correctional services, she said, have so far planted more than 7.5 million trees nationwide and aim to make a significant contribution to the greening initiative by 2032.
Muhia also disclosed that the president has directed the registration of all inmates with SHA and the issuance of national identification cards to enable them to secure jobs or engage in entrepreneurship upon release.
She added that the government will soon roll out the digitalisation of prisons across the country, a process currently at the advertisement stage, as part of broader policy reforms.
“This initiative aligns with the government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda. Through SHA, we are transforming the lives of inmates by granting them access to medical care without financial burdens,” she said.
The PS further highlighted that vocational training programs in prisons are equipping inmates with life skills to reduce recidivism.
She said about 4,950 inmates were recently released under presidential amnesty, including petty offenders and those with less than six months left to serve.
“We are rehabilitating and reforming them through the community probation volunteering program,” Muhia said.
