- Parliament has issued a tender to renew a high-end medical scheme for MPs and senators.
- Lawmakers will receive inpatient coverage of up to KSh 10 million per family, plus dental, optical, and overseas treatment.
- The move contradicts Parliament’s recent call for all public officers to use public hospitals.
Kenya’s Parliament has triggered a national uproar after publishing a fresh tender to renew its VIP medical insurance scheme. The plan, worth several billion dollars over two years, offers generous benefits to 349 MPs and senators, including their spouses and four dependents each.
Under Tender No. PJS/004/2025-2026, lawmakers will enjoy inpatient cover of up to KSh 10 million per family, KSh 500,000 outpatient allowance and full optical, dental, maternity and even overseas treatment.
The package stands in sharp contrast to what millions of ordinary Kenyans receive under the new Social Health Authority (SHA), where many public facilities still demand cash before treatment.
Just weeks earlier, the National Assembly adopted a motion by nominated MP Sabina Chege calling for all public officers, including MPs, to seek treatment only in government hospitals. Chege argued that redirecting billions from private medical allowances would help equip and improve public health facilities.
Despite passing that motion unanimously, Parliament is now rushing to renew a VIP scheme that shields lawmakers from the same struggling health system they expect teachers, boda boda riders and market traders to depend on.
Consumer Federation of Kenya secretary-general Stephen Mutoro blasted the move as shameless.
“Cancel it tomorrow and enrol under SHA like the rest of us,” Mutoro said, calling the tender “legislative greed disguised as routine procurement.”
Kenyans online expressed frustration, accusing MPs of defending a broken system while secretly avoiding it.
One user, Captain Omondi, wrote that legislators “know SHA is not working” yet still market it publicly. Another, Random Uzza, lamented that many citizens will still vote these leaders back despite such scandals.
The anger highlights growing mistrust in a political class seen as detached from daily struggles.
Although SHA has released KSh 3.4 billion to over 2,000 hospitals, and an additional KSh 1.7 billion is being processed for dialysis, cancer treatment and surgeries, the authority remains financially unstable.
Only five million out of 27 million registered Kenyans are active contributors. This huge gap, combined with a Sh30.9 billion debt inherited from NHIF, has left the system under strain.
Nearly half of healthcare providers report delayed reimbursements. Smaller private and faith-based clinics say they have waited months for payment.
Meanwhile, healthcare inflation reached 3.3 per cent this year, and the country still needs 70,000 more health workers to meet demand.
Some parliamentary insiders argue that the elite medical scheme has existed for years and is being renewed. They claim that any Kenyan can also upgrade their cover beyond SHA if they can afford it.
But with the government pushing austerity, taxes rising, and basic commodities becoming more expensive, many Kenyans view Parliament’s decision as a symbol of leaders who enjoy privilege while asking citizens to tighten their belts.
The clash between public expectations and political comfort is now at the centre of a heated national debate on fairness, accountability and the future of Kenya’s healthcare reforms.
