President William Ruto. Photo/Newsflash
By Georgina Mwikali
The High Court has ruled that the Presidential Taskforce on Human Resources for Health, established by President William Ruto in July 2024, is unconstitutional.
The taskforce, led by Professor Khama Rogo, was set up to tackle pressing issues in Kenya’s healthcare system, particularly the challenges related to the recruitment, training, and retention of healthcare workers.
However, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and several civil society organizations challenged the taskforce’s formation in court. They argued that its creation was a breach of the law, as it duplicated the role of the Kenya Health Human Resource Advisory Council, a statutory body formed under the Health Act of 2017.
This advisory council, they contended, had not been fully operationalized by the government, despite being mandated by law. The petitioners criticised the government for bypassing the council, thus undermining a legally established body.
In a ruling delivered on Thursday, February 6, 2025, Justice Bahati Mwamuye agreed with the petitioners, declaring the taskforce unconstitutional.
The Attorney General had requested that the court suspend the decision for 30 days, given the taskforce’s impending deadline, but Justice Mwamuye dismissed this application.
“The formation of the taskforce is unconstitutional and cannot stand,” the judge stated.
The 20-member taskforce was initially given a six-month mandate to develop strategies that would improve Kenya’s healthcare workforce. Its key goals included addressing legal and administrative barriers to effective healthcare delivery and recommending reforms to strengthen the sector.
As part of its mandate, the taskforce aimed to improve the doctor-patient ratio by advising on the employment framework for 20,000 healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, and clinical officers.
In December 2024, Ruto extended the taskforce’s mandate by an additional 60 days, allowing the team until March 2025 to finalize its recommendations. This decision came after the taskforce made significant progress, presenting its findings to the National Assembly’s Committee on Health earlier this month.
The findings pointed to several critical issues within the healthcare sector, including structural inefficiencies in the Ministry of Health, regulatory conflicts among oversight bodies, and challenges related to data management and the quality of healthcare training. One of the key proposals from the taskforce was the consolidation of conflicting policy documents and the establishment of a centralized health data repository to improve security and accessibility.
Despite the setback, the taskforce’s work has highlighted the need for comprehensive reforms to address Kenya’s healthcare challenges.
