We, the undersigned, are senior medical consultants who have each been practicing at the Nairobi Hospital for over 20 years. We have seen the hospital at its best, and we have borne witness to its deterioration over the last few years.
The Nairobi Hospital is not an ordinary private entity. It sits on 21.8 acres of public land, granted by the Government under a trust for the exclusive purpose of providing healthcare to the people of Kenya. For over 70 years, it has evolved into a national and regional medical pillar. It has cared for Kenya’s founding President, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, and former President Daniel Arap Moi, and many dignitaries, and has provided superior care to thousands of Kenyans and patients from across East Africa.
It is precisely because of this public character, and because the President is the Patron of the Kenya Hospital Association (KHA)—the membership body that owns The Nairobi Hospital—that we felt it our duty to seek his intervention after many months of endeavours to bring the rival groups to the table and save the Hospital.
We have made a number of interventions to try and save the Hospital:
In March 2025, we approached the Office of the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service, Mr. Felix Koskei, and detailed years of mismanagement, financial impropriety, and manipulation of the members’ register by the Board. Following our appeal, Mr. Koskei directed the matter to the Attorney General.
Through the Registrar of Companies and exercising her statutory powers under Section 800 of the Companies Act, the Attorney General obtained Search and Seizure Warrants to investigate corporate fraud, malfeasance, and grave non-compliance with the provisions of the Companies Act. The resulting operation recovered a treasure trove of documents—some hidden in secret compartments in the Company Secretary’s office, others rescued from the Hospital’s incinerator during an attempt by the Board of Directors to destroy evidence. These documents form the foundation of the ongoing criminal investigations.
In November 2025, as governance challenges persisted, we sought the intervention of the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Hon. Aden Duale. We outlined the continued mismanagement of the Hospital, the challenges we experienced with the insurance boycott that crippled the hospital, and the Board’s failure to provide leadership.
Unfortunately, all these interventions failed to resolve the governance crisis. Finally, in March 2026, we sought an audience with the President, our Patron, to appeal for his intervention to save this 70-year-old national institution, which was on the brink of collapse.
OUR MOTIVATION: A HOSPITAL IN CRISIS
We took these steps because we have witnessed firsthand the methodical dismantling of a great institution. The facts are staggering:
a) Financial Collapse: Audited financial statements show the hospital has suffered losses exceeding KES 3 billion, with a deficit of approximately KES 2 billion in 2024 alone. It is estimated that the hospital owes suppliers in excess of KES 4 billion, and some suppliers have suspended delivery of essential drugs and medical equipment, leaving doctors and other medical staff
struggling to provide timely and safe care.
b) Unaccounted Funds: Over the years, cash and cash equivalents reserves of KES 9.1 billion,
accumulated through depreciation, have simply vanished or been siphoned out.
c) Litigation Fever: The Board’s actions have plunged the hospital into a slew of litigations, with
legal fees skyrocketing to over KES 680 million in 2024—all in a bid to retain leadership, and none of these court cases touch on patient care.
d) The Manipulated Register: It is a matter of public record that a number of the Board of Directors
engaged in a bold-faced move to capture the hospital by loading over 300 individuals into the Members’ Register, who were then transported to the Hospital in buses to vote at the Hospital’s
AGM. Their membership was paid for through a single lump-sum payment of KES 5 million, without a valid nomination process, vetting, or Board approval, in a direct attempt to rig votes
and entrench themselves in power.
e) Attempted Destruction of Evidence: The very attempt to destroy documents in the incinerator and hide other documents confirms a consciousness of guilt. This is not the behaviour of innocent servants.
f) Defying Court Orders: In November 2025, Hon. Justice Prof. (Dr.) Sifuna issued conservatory
orders in the case of Milimani HCCC No. E293 of 2025, Peter Wainaina, Maurice Ambani & 8 Others v. Felix Osano, Gilbert Nyamweya & 11 Others, providing that, pending the
determination of the application, the Board of Directors, including the CEO and Company Secretary, were:
▪ restrained from transacting with the hospital’s financial investments (deposits, bonds, T- Bills, and overdrafts);
▪ restrained from convening any meetings of the Board of Directors or holding an Annual General Meeting; and
▪ restrained from procuring new or ongoing capital projects.
Despite these court orders, the CEO and Company Secretary have knowingly violated these injunctive orders and even called an AGM in a clear attempt to entrench themselves in office.
SOME OF THE ARRESTS ARE A RESULT OF EVIDENCE, NOT POLITICAL INTERFERENCE
The documents recovered during the Section 800 investigation form part of the basis of the ongoing criminal proceedings, and we believe they are the lawful consequences of evidence uncovered by the Police.
We are concerned, however, that the arrest of Dr. Job Obwaka may be a case where the net cast has caught an innocent person. Dr. Obwaka is not a current member of the Board of Directors, and he was not a member of the Board at the time of manipulation of the register of members. He should be exonerated.
Notwithstanding this, this is not a government takeover. The hospital belongs to its members—it cannot
be taken away by the government or any one person. The incompetence and corruption of the Hospital’s Board of Directors must be dealt with, and they ought to resign or be removed.
LET THE TRUTH PREVAIL
We are doctors, not politicians. We have taken an oath to save lives, and that includes saving the institution that enables us to serve Kenyans. We want free, fair, and credible elections of Board Members with a good track record.
The Nairobi Hospital must be saved—not for any individual, not for any political interest, but for the thousands of patients who depend on it and the generations of Kenyans yet to come.
SIGNED:
1. Dr. Stephen Muhudhia
Consultant Paediatrician, Chairperson of the Division of Paediatrics, KHA Medical Advisory Committee
2. Dr. Martin Wanyoike
Consulting Physician Cardiologist
3. Dr. Joel Toroitich
Consulting Physician Endocrinologist
4. Dr. David Silverstein
Consulting Physician Cardiologist
5. Dr. Florence Murila
Consulting Paediatrician and Ethics Specialist
6. Ms. Christine Muthoga
Legal Advisor, Senior Partner – Muthoga and Omari Advocates
For media inquiries, please contact:
Ms. Christine Muthoga
0757 130384
info@moadvocates.co.ke