NHIF staff face fresh vetting for SHA jobs as court upholds open hiring mandate

Staff from the defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) will now have to compete with other qualified Kenyans for positions at the Social Health Authority (SHA), following a court ruling that blocked their automatic absorption.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court determined that all vacancies must be filled through an open, fair, and competitive process, dismissing SHA’s attempt to conduct internal recruitment.

In his judgment, Justice Byrum Ongaya noted that SHA CEO Mercy Mwangangi had not shown any disruption to the authority’s operations and allowed former NHIF employees to continue serving temporarily until the recruitment process is lawfully concluded.

“It is paramount and not lost to the court’s consideration and attention that in the transition, the applicant (SHA) must continue rendering service and which is not impaired to the extent that the staff of the defunct NHIF are in place until the transition is undertaken and concluded along the directions set out in the legislation and elaborated in the ruling,” Justice Ongaya ruled.

The judge clarified that the key concern was not job loss, but whether the transition followed due process.

“Those who are currently working for the government health insurer and want to continue working should equally apply for the same or other positions in the institution, but not as an automatic transition,” he said.

He criticised the internal hiring as irregular and unconstitutional.

“It should otherwise be obvious that the staff purportedly recruited pursuant to the internal advertisement cannot hold onto the illegal and unconstitutional process to justify the legitimate purported recruitment and appointments,” the judge said, adding that they should continue working as temporary staff until the matter is resolved following court orders.

Internal recruitment

Mwangangi had sought to have the court lift the orders barring internal hiring, arguing that Justice Ongaya had failed to consider two related court cases regarding the same recruitment process.

She said that Justice Bernard Manani, in a separate matter filed by the Kenya Union of Commercial Food and Allied Workers against NHIF, the Attorney General, the Ministry of Health, and SHA, had allowed internal recruitment from NHIF staff.

According to her, that case should have been consolidated with the petition filed by Said Omar Abdille, which was pending before Justice Ongaya.

She also argued that those already recruited should be deemed to have been lawfully appointed.

Mwangangi said the court orders had significant implications for those who had already been appointed as directors and deputy directors at SHA, including NHIF staff and other shortlisted applicants, and that they were not given a chance to be heard before the ruling.

However, Said’s lawyer, Mohamed Duwane, opposed the plea, arguing that allowing internal advertisements would lock out eligible and qualified Kenyans from applying.

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He also expressed concern that staffing SHA with former NHIF personnel would compromise the authority’s credibility due to NHIF’s past allegations of corruption, mismanagement, and inefficiency.

“The matter is of public interest and entails the recruitment of public officers, and allowing the application shall negatively prejudice the petitioner and the public at large in a way that cannot be restored, thereby rendering the petition dated April 28, 2025 nugatory,” Mohamed told the court.

He further argued that SHA had not presented any new facts or legal errors in the earlier decision that would justify a review or suspension of the orders.

“An order of mandamus is hereby issued compelling the 1st respondent to advertise all vacancies in its approved establishment envisaged in subparagraph 6(2) of the First Schedule of the Social Health Insurance Act, 2023, including positions of Quality Assurance Officers, County Coordinators, Directors, Deputy Directors and other advertised roles or vacancies herein, through an open, fair, competitive, and transparent process in accordance with the law devoid of restrictions and limitations,” Justice Ongaya said in his initial ruling.

He also ordered SHA not to process any applications submitted following the internal job advertisement issued in March 2025.

The petition had been filed by Said Omar Abdille, who challenged the recruitment process, terming it opaque, closed and discriminatory.