Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has run to court yet again this time to throw a legal lifeline around one of Kenya’s most storied private health institutions.
The High Court in Nairobi has issued a conservatory order blocking the Kenya Hospital Association, which owns The Nairobi Hospital, from holding its Annual General Meeting after Omtatah, alongside civil society activists Bernard Muchiri Muchere and Naomi Nyakerario Misati, filed a constitutional petition under a certificate of urgency on 3 February 2026.
A billion-shilling black hole
The petition, sworn by Omtatah on 3 February 2026, paints a grim financial portrait of the 72-year-old institution. According to court documents, audited losses exceed KSh3 billion, with an audited deficit of KSh2.214 billion recorded in 2024 alone despite the hospital generating revenues of KSh12.86 billion that year.
Senior consultants who petitioned State House separately alleged that supplier arrears exceed KSh4 billion a figure hospital management contests while a cash reserve of KSh9.1 billion accumulated over years is alleged to be largely unaccounted for, with only KSh572 million traceable in cash equivalents.
“We are concerned that The Nairobi Hospital is facing an imminent institutional collapse driven by severe governance failures, financial mismanagement, and leadership conflicts.” Senator Okiya Omtatah, court affidavit
Milimani Law Courts Justice Lawrence Mugambi issued the suspension, restraining KHA and its officials from convening, holding, or facilitating the AGM that had been set for 6 February 2026.
The court directed that KHA be served within three days and file responses within seven, with the matter scheduled for mention on 23 February.
State accused of orchestrating takeover
What began as a governance dispute has since spiralled into a full-blown political storm. Democratic Party leader and former Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi publicly accused the President William Ruto administration of attempting to seize control of the hospital through intimidation.
Muturi alleged that Felix Koskei, Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service, sustained over a year of threats and blackmail targeting the hospital’s board ultimately ordering the removal of three directors to create vacancies for state-linked nominees.
KHA board chairman Dr. Job Obwaka, vice chairman Samson Kinyanjui, director Valery Gaya, and former director Chris Bichage were subsequently arrested on 14 March 2026 and arraigned at Milimani Law Courts on charges of fraudulently procuring the registration of 334 individuals as KHA members. All four denied the charges and were released on a KSh5 million personal bond each.
The 83-year-old Dr. Obwaka suffered a health scare inside a Directorate of Criminal Investigations vehicle while awaiting arraignment and was briefly taken for emergency treatment.
The arrests drew widespread condemnation from the medical and legal fraternities, with lawyers questioning why the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions rather than a named individual complainant appeared as complainant on the charge sheet.
Ruto defends intervention, doctors divided
President Ruto, speaking in Bungoma County on 17 March 2026, defended the intervention, saying senior doctors and professionals had personally approached him to save the hospital from what he called “conmen, fraudsters and charlatans.”
Ruto said his role as patron of the Kenya Hospital Association a position he assumed in 2023 gave him a responsibility to act. Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale dismissed takeover allegations as misinformation, saying the Ministry had a statutory duty to protect a premier Level Six referral hospital.
However, records from the Ministry of Health show the Nairobi Hospital is registered as a company limited by guarantee a private institution, not a public one.
Senior consultants who sought presidential intervention cited KSh9.1 billion in missing reserves and what they described as over KSh4 billion owed to suppliers, with some vendors reportedly suspending delivery of essential drugs.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union, meanwhile, condemned the arrest and detention of Dr. Obwaka, threatening nationwide strikes and demanding independent medical checks for the detained officials.
With court battles escalating and political pressure mounting on all sides, The Nairobi Hospital’s fate hangs in a legal balance and Omtatah, Kenya’s most prolific courtroom activist, appears determined to keep it there until accountability is served.
