By Lauryne Akoth
Chief Justice Martha Koome has appointed a three-judge bench to hear and determine the case challenging the Social Health Insurance Act 2023.
The appointment of the judges comes after the National Assembly filed an application seeking the case to be referred to the Chief justice for the appointment of the judges. Koome has tasked Justice Alfred Mabeya, Robert Limo, and Freda Mugambi to deal with the case filed last year.
According to the petition filed by the National Assembly, the parliament asserted that Aura Joseph Enock’s petition poses significant legal queries, urging Chief Justice Koome to appoint an imbalanced panel comprising no fewer than three judges.
Filed in the latter part of the previous year, Aura’s case contests the legality of the SHIF Act 2023, the Primary Health Insurance Act 2023, the Digital Health Act 2023, and the Facility Improvement Financing Act 2023.
Parliament argued that while the case could potentially be heard by a single judge, the petition encompasses the gradual fulfilment of the right to healthcare. This aspect aligns with the constitutional criteria, prompting the court to exercise its discretion in favour of a broader bench, given the public importance and significance of the right to healthcare.
The new Social Health Insurance Fund recently came under fire, after a joint parliamentary committee of health between the Ministry of Health, the National Assembly and the Senate clashed over remittances by polygamous families.
According to the Ministry of Health, polygamous families are required to pay more to sustain their families under the scheme. Lawmakers in the meeting demanded that regulations be adjusted to ensure that polygamous marriages are subjected to the same deduction criteria as monogamous marriages.
National Assembly members labelled the act as discriminatory, objecting to the classification of men with two wives as having two households. According to the act, such individuals are mandated to make separate deductions of 2.7% on their gross pay for the insurance scheme.
The Ministry of Health however defended the act stating that SHIF aims to create equity across beneficiaries and to ensure every Kenyan enjoys the medical premium.
The Ministry of Health additionally introduced additional regulations stipulating that unemployed Kenyans aged 25 and above, lacking formal employment, must remit a compulsory fee of Kshs 300.