By Antynet Ford
Mumias East Member of Parliament has urged president William Ruto to address the financial burden Kenyans are facing or lose their support.
Speaking during the launch of Sugarcane farmer’s bonus payment in Mumias, Salasya accused president Ruto’s advisors of not sharing information with him about the state of the nation.
The witty MP asked the head of state to take him as an advisor so he not misinformed.
“I want you to take me as your advisor and pay me because your people don’t tell you the truth. They say SHA is working, but it’s not,” Salasya lamented.
The legislator lamented the heavy deductions Kenyans are facing on their payslips as he called for an intervention from the head of state.
Salasya told Ruto that he should prioritize Kenyan needs if he wants to secure a second term.
“If you prioritize the needs of Kenyans, I will support you,” he added.
Salasya called for stakeholder involvement in decision-making, saying it was key to the success of government initiatives such as the Social Health Authority (SHA).
“With stakeholders onboard, even SHA will work,” he noted.
When he rose to speak, Ruto fired back at the legislator accusing him of complaining because he and others were now paying more to the SHA.
“The reason they are complaining about SHA is because they are paying more than what they used to pay Instead of speaking for themselves that they do not want to pay that amount, they start saying the people do not want to, where have you met them?” He said.
The remarks by the MP come amidst complaints by Kenyans that the Social Health Authority has been facing downtimes and they are unable to pay for services in hospitals because of that.
Last week, Patients from Kenyatta National Hospital stormed a presser by the Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa saying they had been in the hospital for days but could not be discharged because the SHA system had not been working for over a week.
They lamented that the system was accepting payment but when it was their turn to be serviced, it was when a downtime was experienced.
