What the Ombudsman Actually Ordered In a determination issued under the Access to Information Act, 2016, the Commission directed SHA's Chief Executive Officer to provide disaggregated data on National Hospital Insurance Fund payments made to all hospitals nationally between 2018 and 2024, as well as all payments made by SHA and SHIF to hospitals from 2025 through to the date of the ruling. The Commission gave SHA 21 days to comply. The order stems from an application filed by a member of the public, Saddam Amatonyo, who first requested the information in a letter dated November 19, 2025. The Legal Basis The Commission on Administrative Justice, established under Article 59(4) of the Constitution and the Commission on Administrative Justice Act, 2011, grounded its ruling in Article 35 of the Constitution, which guarantees every citizen the right to access information held by the state, with the Access to Information Act providing the enforcement framework. The Commission warned that failure to comply could trigger further legal consequences. Why SHA's Payment Data Has Already Been Under Scrutiny This is not the first time the Ombudsman has pressed SHA on payment transparency. In February 2025, the Commission gave SHA's CEO seven days to respond to a separate query over Ksh7.3 billion in hospital disbursements, after a different applicant, Collins Omollo, complained that SHA had failed to respond within statutory timelines. Around the same period, the Commission separately gave SHA seven days to address roughly Ksh30 billion in hospital arrears inherited from the defunct NHIF, demanding a detailed breakdown of unpaid claims and the reasons behind the delays, and calling for an independent audit of SHA's financial operations. The Money Behind the Records The scale of what this data release could reveal is substantial. President William Ruto announced in early 2025 that the government would fully settle all NHIF-era hospital claims of Ksh10 million and below, representing 91% of all facilities that had contracted with NHIF, while the remaining 9% with larger claims underwent a separate verification process. By that point, SHA had already paid Ksh18.2 billion in undisputed claims since its October 2024 launch. More recently, SHA gave hospitals until July 31, 2026 to contest verified NHIF claims of Ksh10 million or below before final sign-off, and separately settled Ksh27.9 billion in county health claims, with Ksh6.96 billion more still under review. Why This Order Matters Beyond One Applicant Individually, these figures have been disclosed piecemeal, in press statements, presidential announcements, and periodic SHA notices. What the Ombudsman's ruling changes is scope: disaggregated, facility-level data spanning both the NHIF and SHA eras would let researchers, journalists, and healthcare providers themselves cross-check whether the aggregate numbers the government has publicized match what individual hospitals actually received, and when. What to Watch The 21-day compliance window puts SHA on a firm deadline. Whether the released data is genuinely disaggregated and complete, rather than a summarized version that satisfies the letter of the order without its transparency intent, will determine whether this becomes a meaningful accountability tool or another compliance formality in Kenya's ongoing NHIF-to-SHA transition. _Reporting sources: Capital FM Kenya (July 2026); allAfrica.com (July 2026); Eastleigh Voice (February 2025); Kenyans.co.ke (24 July 2026); allAfrica.com (March 2025, presidential announcement)._