Constitutional Lawyer and Safina Party Deputy Party Leader Willis Otieno has urged the government to safeguard the Linda Mama programme as the country transitions to the Social Health Authority (SHA) framework.
Otieno’s remarks, shared on his X account on Sunday, September 28, 2025, came amid growing public unease that the SHA reforms may disrupt free access to maternal healthcare. He noted that Linda Mama had provided dignity and simplicity for expectant mothers by ensuring services were free at the point of need.
“Linda Mama was free at point of service; show your ID, prove you’re Kenyan, and you got maternal care covered,” Otieno wrote. He cautioned that Kenyans fear the new scheme could introduce hidden costs or bureaucratic hurdles, eroding the gains made in maternal health.
Otieno stressed that effective public health policy should be built on accessibility. “That’s how public health policy is supposed to work: no barriers, no hidden bills, no humiliation at the hospital gate,” he added.
His sentiments echoed concerns raised by former President Uhuru Kenyatta, who indirectly criticised SHA reforms during the Jubilee Party’s National Delegates Conference (NDC) held at Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi. Uhuru defended his administration’s achievements, particularly the Linda Mama programme, which enabled thousands of women to deliver in public hospitals free of charge.
Without mentioning SHA directly, the former Head of State cautioned against introducing untested systems at the expense of proven ones. “Today, Linda Mama has been abandoned and replaced by new, untried and untested schemes. While we wait for these experiments to succeed, Kenyans continue to suffer and our progress is slowed,” he said.
Uhuru urged leaders to learn from past successes while injecting new ideas to improve service delivery. “You succeed by building on past successes, and you fail by ignoring past mistakes, thereby falling into the trap of repeating them,” he told delegates.
As the SHA transition unfolds, stakeholders are increasingly pressing for clarity and assurance that critical programmes such as Linda Mama will not be eroded.
