Gatanga MP Edward Muriu has been implicated in the questionable payments from the now-defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) amounting to KSh 500 million.
Muriu, a vocal critic of President William Ruto’s policies, especially the Social Health Authority (SHA) which replaced NHIF, is on record criticising the transition, but the new revelation raises questions about whether his opposition is driven by personal interests.
In the scandal, NHIF in May 2018 engaged Muriu’s law firm, Muriu Mungai & Company Advocates (MMC), to draft contracts for healthcare service providers for the 2018/2019 financial year.
The firm was tasked with preparing 6,700 agreements, but later claimed to have completed 7,009 contracts.
The scope of work included drafting, commissioning, negotiating terms, attending meetings, conducting company searches, printing, binding, and stamping the contracts.
Three months later, by October 2018, MMC had issued NHIF with a staggering fee note of KSh 500 million but questions emerged over whether the tasks performed justified the half-a-billion payment.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) began probing the controversial payment but at that time, the disbanded scheme had already paid Muriu KSh 302 million.
In October 2022, MMC moved to court to demand the balance of KSh 172 million and after a long legal battle, NHIF agreed to pay KSh 175.2 million to MMC in four installments until May 30, 2024.
The revelation raises more questions about Muriu’s sustained opposition to the health reforms.
Some pundits argue he might be one of the cartels that President Ruto put on notice for sabotaging SHA so that they can continue stealing taxpayers’ money from NHIF.
