Hello and welcome to the Evening Brief Newsletter where the transition to SHIF is imminent.
Situational Awareness: My colleague and senior writer Brian Casey is heralding a new age of interactive storytelling at Kenyans.co.ke laden with intensive graphics. The stories go live every Tuesday and Friday.
In the inaugural edition, he reckons with the effects of a continually weakening shilling (it has hit a high of Ksh134 against the dollar) and seeks the expertise of two economists. (Read the interactive story here.)
Health Data Wanted
Ahead of the official July 1 rollout, the government is gearing up to start kick-off biometric registration of all civil servants this May.
Performance Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria made the revelation during his Wednesday night media interview.
The registration is the first process of collecting data which forms part of the changes to the new digital health system.
Later, all Kenyans seeking to get onboarded to the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) must undergo biometric registration.
What Kuria Said: “I intend to do biometrics re-registration of all public workers starting from next month. As part of digital health, we have to take the biometrics of everybody so that they can access social health which is a good thing."
Justification: Kuria noted that he was angling to weed out ghost workers in government using the registration hence the decision to start with civil servants.
"As we accelerate our prayers to exorcise ghosts, the Ministry of Public Service will embark on biometric registration of all the 900,000 of us who are paid by the taxpayers including counties," he added.
Catch Up Quick: SHIF, which seeks to replace the troubled National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) will see Kenyans part with 2.75 per cent of their monthly salaries with the minimum being Ksh300. All Kenyans, including those in the self-employment sector, will be expected to contribute. NHIF only deducts slightly above Ksh1,000, a uniform figure disregarding salary scales.
Aborted Plans: Earlier, the Ministry was ready to kick off the registration in March but the exercise was postponed until Ruto officially launches SHIF.
The deductions are expected to kick off in July this year.
You Can Run But Never Hide - Ruto
President William Ruto has assured Naivasha residents crying foul of a foreign conman who disappeared without settling their payments of justice.
On Wednesday, the Head of State learnt from Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara that the unidentified Turkish Tycoon gave the residents contracts for delivering supplies before vanishing without paying them.
In response, the President promised that should he fail to nab the suspect, he would reach out to Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan for help in tracking down the suspect and bringing him to book.
Ruto's Vow:"Jayne Kihara told me that there was a person who came here and gave you contracts and you invested your money and then he vanished."
"What ethnicity is he? He is Turkish? I will look for him. I must find him and if I do not, I will look for the Turkish President to work with him on that. "I will look for him and I will tell him that mambo yake ni matatu," President Ruto promised the jubilant crowd.
True to His Word: In October 2023, he cautioned a mining businessman who owes Ksh30 million to residents of Taita Taveta County.
Ruto revealed that the businessman had not paid royalties to the residents for over four years.
The businessman only paid Ksh10 million, with a significant amount still unpaid.
Data Point (Diaspora Remittance)
Amount of money Kenyans in diaspora remitted back in 2023, surpassing the 2022 figure of KshKsh645 billion according to data from the Central Bank of Kenya.
Labour CS Florence Bore says the remittance has been on an upward trajectory for the last 10 years.
Here are five other stories we are keeping tabs on for you;
- Ruto voices his concerns over the size of rooms at the Ksh9.6 billion Bunge Towers.
- Education CS Ezekiel Machogu pens letter to regional directors over school reopening as floods persist.
- WorldCoin, the global company that created a firestorm for scanning Kenyans' eyes, is reportedly facing a shortage of the very equipment.
- President Ruto orders mandatory evacuations of Kenyans living in low-lying areas already marooned by floods.
- Auctioneers close in on former Kesses MP Swarup Mishra's property over a Ksh350 million debt.
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This newsletter was written by Derrick Kubasu and edited by Brian Muuo.
Washington Mito contributed to the content.
Graphics prepared by Adongo Kyalo.
