NHIF’s job position advert signals departure of current CEO

An advertisement posted by the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) in the local dailies on Wednesday advertising for the position of Chief Executive officer has all but confirmed that the agency’s current CEO Geoffrey Mwangi is set to leave the health cover provider.

According to a news report by the Business Daily, the agency’s CEO current contract expires in November and the firm’s decision to publicly advertise for the position signals the imminent departure of Geoffrey Mwangi from the agency.

“Appointment to the CEO positions will be on contract for a term of three years renewable once for similar term, subject to satisfactory performance,” the job advert reads in part.

According to an insider privy to the details of development, who spoke to the Business Daily, the choice to advertise for the position was made by the NHIF Board of Directors with the Ministry of Health not having a say in the matter and it was informed by the fact that the current CEO did not ask for an extension of his contract.

 “The rule is that six months before the expiry of the contract the employee is supposed to ask for renewal, which did not happen so the Board went ahead and advertised,” the source told the Business Daily.

“The process is long and it will take some time but if it is finalized before November then they will decide whether to pay him for the remainder of his term,” the source added.

The development comes after a number of top officials at the agency were implicated as having participated in irregular procurement under the CEO’s watch and this led to investigations into some transactions at the national insurer that were suspected to be fraudulent. The NHIF’s Board of Directors consequently sent sent Mr. Mwangi and the firm’s Acting Finance Director Wilbert Kurgat on mandatory leave to allow for investigatons into the national insurer’s transactions.

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