Bishop Obanyi eats humble pie as he loses St Mary’s Hospital tiff with Mudavadi

The bishop of Kakamega Joseph Obanyi has backtracked on his hostile stance regarding government’s payment of medical claims by Social Health Authority (SHA) to a hospital sponsored by his church.

The bishop has admitted that his remarks regarding the situation at St Mary’s Mumias Mission Hospital where he lambasted Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi were, in fact, misleading as they were not based on facts.

On September 3, in the presence of Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale and Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa, the Prelate ate his humble pie and admitted to having misled the country in his public utterances.

On Saturday, a furious Bishop Obanyi openly took on Mudavadi whom he accused of perpetuating ‘lies and cheap populist politics’ over the situation at the mission hospital.

Obanyi had said Mudavadi was being insincere in his remarks that SHA had since its inception in October 2024 paid a total of Ksh 98.2 million to the health facility in medical claims.

He claimed that Mudavadi had peddled falsehoods during his address at a burial ceremony of Malava MP aspirant Enock Andanje.

According to Obanyi, Mudavadi was just shielding the Government’s complacency in the saga.

However, after inspection of the institution in the company of Duale and Barasa, Obanyi beat a hasty about turn and admitted to having made the harsh dismissive remarks without facts at his fingertips.

Obanyi vindicated Mudavadi by confirming that SHA had actually released the money as earlier announced by Mudavadi.

At the joint press briefing in Barasa’s office, Obanyi concurred that SHA’s disbursements had, in fact, been regular and that since December last year St Mary’s Hospital had received monthly payment from SHA up to and including August 2025.

“We have agreed and I can confirm that from December 2024 to August 2025, SHA has disbursed a total of Sh98,671,567. This had been disbursed and spread over the month,” Obanyi confirmed.

He confirmed that the hospital had actually received the money and urged SHA to hasten release of the balance owed to the facility.

“I am here to inform you that we have had discussions and understood what is our true position. I can confirm that each month’s monies have been disbursed (and) in the coming one week we will also receive Ksh14 million,” he stated.

Obanyi observed that the SHA concept is a good initiative, arguing that if properly managed, it would go a long way in assisting the government offer quality health services to Kenyans.

“We believe the pending payment of KSh35 million that we expected from SHA to clear the salary (will be released) and because of the verification that (still remains) the Ksh10 million that is yet to be verified, (will be released),” he noted.

It all started on Thursday last week, when during his address to mourners at the funeral of then Malava UDA by-election aspirant Dr. Enock Andanje, Mudavadi called on the hospitals’ management to come out and tell the public the truth on what led to its closure.

Mudavadi was giving the Government’s position on disbursements by the Ministry of Health of the SHA funds to the facility and challenged its leadership to state facts if the payments were not actually made.

Mudavadi warned against mismanagement and skimming of public funds by some senior officials in some hospitals and health facilities through internal operations.

He told off local politicians led by former Kakamega senator Cleophas Malalah who were repeatedly misleading the public on the genesis of the crisis at the hospital.

Mudavadi accused a number of health facilities of hiding crucial evidence on the SHA in an attempt to hamper its smooth running.

He shared details from the Ministry of Health and further clarified that the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) was verifying the NHIF arrears for St Mary’s hospital following a court ruling and the dues would be paid once the records are cleaned up.

The Ministry of Health’s detailed report showed a chronology of disbursements from the SHA of Sh92,992,340.00 million following the update for the August payments of Ksh 4,888,370.

The report also tabulated payments made under the Primary Healthcare Fund of Ksh 5,791,500. A further Kshs. 201,593.85 from the Public Officers Medical Fund Scheme (POMFS) had also been paid to the facility.

In a follow-up statement, the Ministry now says the hospital has received a total of Ksh 98,985,433 for the period from November 2024 to August 2025 under the three vote heads. The report indicates that the hospital received its disbursements through Cooperative Bank A/c 01120067164500 Mumias Branch with matching dates of each transaction.

After the joint Presser at Barasa’s office, Mudavadi applauded Obanyi for finally proving his statement regarding the SHA disbursements to the Mumias hospital, thus putting to an end the controversy surrounding the matter.

“Bishop Obanyi’s gesture is a mark of honour that needs to be emulated by all and sundry, and particularly some local politicians who had lurched into the St Mary’s Hospital matter for political expediency,” said Mudavadi.

“We continue to thank the Faith-Based institution and in particular the Catholic Church for the continued partnership and support to the government in provision of health care to our citizens,”  he added.

“I wish to also acknowledge the positive efforts of Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale for his quick intervention to save the St Mary’s Hospital, his efforts alongside that of Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa to foster positive collaboration and honest, and mature engagement on matters of health for our citizens is welcomed,” he continued.

Kakamega senator Dr. Boni Khalwale and his predecessor, Malalah, had last weekend given priority treatment to the saga at the Mumias hospital in their public speeches, with the former warning Mudavadi not to step foot in Kakamega county allegedly because he does not know the area and instead stick to his native Vihiga county.

Malalah triggered the controversy at Andanje’s funeral in Malava, also attended by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula.

Malalah claimed that the duo had done nothing to rescue the situation at the hospital which had collapsed allegedly due to SHA’s mismanagement.