State House wades into Nairobi Hospital crisis after top medics seek intervention
A new look of State House Nairobi that is undergoing renovations in this picture taken on Monday, May 12, 2025.
Five senior doctors and a legal advisor at The Nairobi Hospital yesterday said they wrote to President William Ruto in February seeking his intervention to save the hospital from financial collapse that has seen suppliers withdraw their services.
The doctors said they approached the President as patron of the Kenya Hospital Association (KHA), the membership body that owns the hospital.
The announcement came as Dr Job Obwaka, the KHA/Nairobi Hospital chairperson and three others, all arrested on Saturday, were charged at Milimani Law Courts with falsification of the KHA members' register, concerns over governance decisions and hospital management and governance disputes.
This came amid accusations by former National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi that the President was using his chief of staff to take over the hospital through raids on board members' residences to coerce them into resigning.
Prof Stephen Muhudhia, a member of the KHA Medical Advisory Committee, told a press conference that audited financial statements showed losses exceeding Sh3 billion, including a deficit of approximately Sh2 billion in 2024 alone.
"The hospital owes suppliers in excess of Sh4 billion, and some have suspended delivery of essential drugs and medical equipment, leaving doctors and staff struggling to provide timely and safe care. Over the years, cash and cash equivalents reserves of Sh91 billion, accumulated through depreciation, have vanished or been siphoned out," he said.
Muhudhia added that the board's actions had pushed legal fees to over Sh80 million in 2024, in a bid to retain leadership.
"Some board members loaded over 300 individuals into the members' register and bussed them to the hospital to vote at the annual general meeting. Their membership was covered by a single lump-sum payment of Sh5 million, with no nomination process, vetting, or board approval, a direct attempt to rig votes and entrench themselves in power,” he said.
The team said the CEO and company secretary had defied conservatory orders issued by Prof Nixon Wanyama Sifuna in November 2025, which froze all financial transactions, capital projects, and official meetings, and forced an AGM in defiance of the injunction.
They described the approach to the President as a last resort, having first tried the Head of Public Service Felix Koskei in March 2025, then Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale in November 2025. Koskei referred the matter to the attorney-general, who obtained search and seizure warrants to investigate corporate fraud, malfeasance, and non-compliance with the Companies Act.
"The operation recovered documents hidden in secret compartments in the company secretary's office, and others salvaged from the hospital's incinerator as the board attempted to destroy evidence. These documents form the foundation of the ongoing criminal investigations," said Prof Muhudhia.
'The reformists'
Dr Martin Wanyoike, a consulting cardiologist, said Koskei had introduced seven people onto the board, dubbed the "reformists" and including Dr Obwaka, to resolve the crisis. When the board split into factions and a second appeal to CS Duale also failed, the team went to the President.
"Things had become so difficult as insurers had pulled out, and supplies had run dry. The head of public service and the Health CS had not succeeded, so we needed to seek an audience with the highest office in the land. The president said he would consult Mr Koskei and CS Duale to find a solution. He was troubled that he was the patron of a facility that was not doing well," said Dr Wanyoike.
He dismissed suggestions that the visit was political.
"It is unfortunate that this process has taken a political angle. When we visited the President, we didn’t see any indication that he was trying to take over the hospital. We believe what is happening is politics, and we do not participate in politics ourselves," he said.
The doctors called the arrest a "shocker," attributing it to mistaken identity or political manoeuvring.
His son, Dr Chris Obwaka, told Nation his father was grabbed as he stepped out of his car in the basement of the NSSF building.
"He was heading to his private practice, the Gilead Women's Centre, when he noticed a car trailing him. He did not think much of it until he drove into the basement, where he was intercepted by men claiming to be DCI officers. They had no uniforms, no identification, and no arrest warrant. They just took him," said Dr Chris.
Dr Obwaka was taken to Muthaiga Police Station, where police told the family the orders had come from above.
"The OCS said this had come from the top. Everyone we called said the same thing — it is above them. They are arresting people from both the previous and current boards. It appears to be an attempt to dismantle the Reformists group, which is dedicated to cleaning up the KHA member register and restoring good governance," he said.
Dr Chris said the charge sheet was riddled with errors, alleging that Dr Obwaka procured registration of members by pretence and failed to lodge financial statements between July and December 2024.
"Dr Obwaka was not even on the board during the period in question — he joined in June 2025. The duties mentioned, including lodging copies of amended articles and financial statements, are strictly the domain of the company secretary, not a director. That already knocks him off," he said.
The Kenya Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society raised concern over the detention of Dr Obwaka, 80, who lives with multiple medical conditions and recently underwent open-heart surgery.
"His doctor has formally communicated the seriousness of his condition to the authorities. Despite this, he is being held at Muthaiga Police Station and has been denied cash bail, even though he was granted anticipatory bail when he learnt of the impending arrest," said society president Dr Kireki Omanwa.
He called for an immediate medical review, cash bail or non-custodial measures, and humane treatment in line with human rights and medical ethics.
State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed confirmed the doctors' account, saying the president had stressed the hospital's national importance and insisted on a transparent and lawful resolution to its governance and financial challenges.
Mr Mohamed said Koskei had mediated 14 consultative meetings over the past year, leading to the reconstitution of the Board of Management and a Five-Point Reform Agenda prioritising a forensic financial audit, a clean-up of the KHA membership register, and the withdrawal of proxy litigation ahead of the December 2025 AGM.
The Attorney General appointed a multi-agency task force, comprising the DCI, KRA, and the Asset Recovery Agency, to investigate the hospital's affairs under the Companies Act. The findings were submitted on March 6, 2026, prompting President Ruto to direct that the recommendations be implemented without delay.
Speaking at a health summit in Mombasa, CS Duale dismissed reports of a state-led takeover as misinformation, saying his ministry had a statutory duty to protect one of the region's premier Level Six referral hospitals.
"I am not a member of that hospital, but as the minister in charge, I have a duty to protect one of our best health facilities," he said.
"The hospital has been facing financial mismanagement and bad governance for three years, leading to shortages of basic health commodities and delays in surgeries. Let us not bring politics into this. The patients are suffering," he added.
The crisis deepened in December when private medical insurers blacklisted the facility. The Ministry directed the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) to audit its clinical infrastructure and deployed investigators to probe allegations of tax evasion, corruption, and malpractice.
Duale noted that The Nairobi Hospital is a company limited by guarantee with no shareholding and cannot be bought, adding that every Kenyan president from Mzee Jomo Kenyatta to retired Uhuru Kenyatta had served as its patron under the Memorandum of Understanding.
"Neither the president, myself, nor any government official is interested in acquiring it. Our only interest is preserving it as a first-class national and regional facility," he said.
He warned opposition politicians against politicising the health sector, saying the government's only goal was to restore the facility as a centre of medical excellence.
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