Court of Appeal will today deliver a ruling on whether it will suspend a decision that invalidated the Social Health Insurance Fund.....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
The High Court found the acts to be unconstitutional in July this year but the government being dissatisfied appealed saying more than seven million Kenyans registered under the National Health Insurance Fund will not access healthcare if the decision is not overturned.
High Court judges Alfred Mabeya, Robert Limo and Friday Mugambi had given Parliament 120 days to make amends to the said Act.
The three-judge bench said Parliament should undertake adequate public participation in accordance with the constitution before enacting the same act and amending the unconstitutional provisions.
“This should be done within 120 days. If they fail to, the Act shall remain suspended,” they said.
It was the court’s finding that the programme had burdened a few salaried individuals, thus creating a disparity in the contribution.
“We are prepared to allow Parliament to redeem itself and save the laws. The breaches that tainted the laws are redeemable within our findings and can be corrected,” said the bench.
The three-judge bench said it is clear that some rights under the Act have been limited.
They cited sections 26(5) and 27 (4) of SHIA.
Section 26(5) makes registration and contribution a precondition for dealing with or accessing public services from the national and county governments or their entities.
Section 27(4) on the other hand provides that a person shall only access healthcare services where their contributions to the SHIF are up to date and active.
Separately, Gilbert Masengeli is expected in court today after attempts to appear before Justice Lawrence Mugambi to redeem himself on Thursday flopped.
His six-month jail sentence is set to commence today but Masengeli has since appealed.
On Thursday he told the court he was now able to appear before it to answer the issues surrounding the “abduction of Kitengela 3…CLICK HERE FOR MORE ARTICLE>>>
