MPs slash police insurance budget by Sh883 million to settle debt on stalled Mbagathi hospital

The National Police Service’s (NPS) insurance budget has been cut by Sh883 million to help clear a Sh833.63 million debt owed to a contractor behind a stalled 150-bed police hospital in Nairobi’s Mbagathi area.

The facility, built under Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) supervision and fully equipped to serve officers and their families, has remained unused two years after its completion.

Members of Parliament made the decision after it was revealed that the hospital, though fully completed and staffed, had not been handed over to the service because of the unpaid debt. The move is also part of efforts to rein in what MPs described as exorbitant insurance spending that has failed to directly benefit police officers.

The National Assembly Administration and Internal Affairs Committee, chaired by Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo, said the government was grappling with costly police insurance cover, while the NPS was reluctant to honour claims for injured officers and the families of deceased personnel.

The police service had awarded a Sh8.7 billion contract to APA and a joint venture for the provision of medical insurance for officers from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026. However, the committee questioned why such a huge allocation was being made when the hospital was not operational.

“We are seeing that you have Sh12 billion allocated for police insurance, yet you have nothing towards clearing the hospital’s pending bill,” Tongoyo said during a committee session attended by Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and National Police Service Secretary of Administration Bernice Lemedeket.

“Why not use the insurance funds to clear the hospital debt? The hospital is now becoming a white elephant. Despite its completion, the police are not getting the services they need,” he added.

The committee noted that once operationalised, the hospital would help reduce overall expenditure on police healthcare, as officers would no longer need to be admitted to expensive private hospitals.

Tongoyo and Saku MP Dido Rasso, the committee’s vice chairperson, led the call to scale down insurance costs, terming the current arrangement an imprudent use of public resources.

The level four hospital was completed during the 2022/23 financial year. Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu flagged the unpaid Sh833.63 million in the 2023/24 audited accounts, further drawing attention to the stalled handover.

The hospital was designed to offer critical and specialised medical services to officers across the country and improve their welfare.

Despite its state of readiness, Lemedeket revealed that Sh200 million had been allocated in the next financial year to pay medical staff at the hospital. The revelation caught the attention of MPs, who questioned the logic of spending money on staffing a facility that is yet to begin operations.

“We need an explanation as to why we have billions spent on police insurance cover, yet there is no allocation for clearing the pending bill that has prevented the service from taking over the hospital,” Rasso said.

The committee also demanded details on how the contract for the hospital’s construction was awarded, raising concerns over the transparency and accountability of the process.

MPs insisted that settling the outstanding debt and activating the hospital would ultimately save the government billions and ensure officers receive the healthcare services they deserve.

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