By Martin Masai
Governor Wavinya’s Undercover Mission at Machakos Level 5 searched for Hospital Revenue System Loopholes
When she visited Machakos Level 5 Hospital last Monday, Governor Wavinya Ndeti was on an undercover mission.
Though her known mission was to inspect the site of a new Level 3 hospital, unbeknownst to her hosts, she was searching for a fabled cash trove at the hospital that turned out to be a wild goose chase.
Her secret mission saw her ransack staff handbags and drawers in search of cash said to be stashed daily and allegedly delivered to the hospital’s Director of Finance, Catherine Nzioka.
In the end, Wavinya found only KES 1,300 in a carton.
It sent tongues wagging in the hospital and beyond that mystery cash was being found in boxes, in Kes. 50 denominations, amounting to unspecified thousands.
The 50 bobs looked like cash obtained from poor patients seeking services at the hospital.
The discovery of cash, however small, makes nonsense of the fabled cashless system the government established at high costs, ignoring older systems that worked with documented success.
The governor combed through all cash points as her Health Minister, Justus Kasivu, tagged along studiously. She searched even handbags and forced lockers open.
Wavinya scolded virtually everyone at every turn in her usual rage.
Her ire seemed targeted at Mrs. Nzioka and the hospital CEO, Winfred Nzuki. She endlessly lashed out at the CEO and the hospital’s administrative cadre.
After a narration of how payments at the hospital reach its accounts, a skeptical Wavinya remained unbelieving.
She then directed staff to make payments through the paybills to demonstrate to her how the system works to collect revenue at the hospital. She nodded in appreciation.
Sources say it was the culmination of bad blood between Finance Minister Onesmus Kuyu and Majority Leader Nicholas Nzioka, whose boiling point rests with the Finance Director, Catherine Nzioka (CK).
It transpires that Kuyu has vowed to dismiss her over the cash trove claims that Ndeti had come to personally confirm. The hospital’s revenue systems have faced perennial audits in a bid to identify possible loopholes for the fabled cash troves.
Sources say matters came to a head when CK bought a new car, a matter that Ndeti raised with the Majority Leader. The feuding underlines the rivalry between new county leaders and former local authorities’ veterans, who have survived endless purges since the advent of devolution.
Efforts to obtain direct comments from Kuyu failed because he never picked calls from The Anchor. CK declined to speak to The Anchor because she is prohibited by protocals- but a source close to her verified the tribulations she faces under Kuyu.
Wavinya’s mission, however, discovered a dysfunctional receipting system at the cancer centre. When her mission to “catch thieves” ended with nothing, the governor also established a committee to work with CEO Ms. Winfred Nzuki.
The CEO is yet to blend with the hospital establishment because the title is alien to the hospital’s organogram. She displaced the Medical Superintendent, Dr. Katua, who now sits in a backroom, yet staff see the medsup as the actual leader.
The hospital operates without a board.
Ndeti had come to the hospital to inspect the developing Level 3 hospital within the Level 5 facility.
The Machakos Level 3 Hospital is set to undergo a registration process as a fully-fledged hospital. Doctors, nurses, and clinical officers will be posted to the new facility.
It is targeting patients who walk to the Level 5 hospital without a referral. It will be established at the CCC section, currently handling TB and HIV cases. A gate is opening to face the Machakos Bus Park.
