Former and retired President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday, September 26, 2025, issued a veiled criticism of the recently established Social Health Authority (SHA), which replaced the defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). Speaking during the Jubilee Party’s National Delegates Conference (NDC) at Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi, Kenyatta reflected on his administration’s achievements while challenging the direction of the country’s current healthcare policies.
Highlighting the success of the Linda Mama programme, which provided free maternity services in public hospitals, Uhuru faulted the abandonment of such initiatives for what he termed “untried and untested schemes.” He warned that while these new policies are being tested, ordinary Kenyans are left to suffer.
“Today, Linda Mama has been abandoned and replaced by new, untried and untested schemes. While we wait for these experiments to succeed, Kenyans continue to suffer and our progress is slowed,” he stated.
Lessons from the Past
Kenyatta urged Jubilee Party delegates to reflect deeply on lessons learned from history, cautioning that empty rhetoric without meaningful delivery only risks repeating mistakes.
“You succeed by building on past successes, injecting new ideas, and improving upon them; and you fail by ignoring past mistakes, thereby falling into the trap of repeating them,” he emphasized.
Youth Participation in Policy
The former President also underlined the importance of youth involvement in national decision-making, stressing that their perspectives are vital for transformative change.
“Listening to younger generations is crucial, for it is through their insights that real transformation can occur,” he said.
He lamented that his efforts to share this message during the last general election were drowned out by divisive rhetoric centered on insults, character attacks, and narratives of “hustlers versus dynasties.”
A Call for Direction
Concluding his address, Kenyatta challenged Jubilee members to reflect on the party’s vision and future, calling for a balance between honoring past gains and embracing fresh ideas.
