NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 22- Police and their counterparts in the prison service are set to start enjoying an enhanced group life insurance cover starting January 1, 2021.
This is after the signing of a contract with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) for the provision of the services.
The agreement is a culmination of lengthy deliberations and consultations among the key stakeholders, who settled on the intra-government contracting model with a view to addressing the escalating claims of unpaid life insurance and annuity benefits to service members or their designated beneficiaries.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Karanja Kibicho said this is part of the government’s systematic efforts to institutionalize a welfare and protection programme for the 131,816 officers who have to contend with life-changing situations through the course of their duties.
“We’ve had challenges in providing our officers with these services, and that is why we decided to engage NHIF to protect them just like the other civil servants,” he said, adding that the entities were strictly guided by the existing public procurement procedures.
He was speaking on Tuesday after signing the agreement at Harambee House.
According to the PS, the ultimate goal is to harmonize the insurance policy benefits of the officers with those of other civil servants and tailor them to address the vulnerabilities of the surviving families of those who lose their lives in line of duty.
His counterpart in the State Department for Correctional Services, Zeinab Hussein, hailed the move as a big motivating factor that has been lacking in the past, an observation seconded by the Inspector General of the National Police, Hillary Mutyambai, and the Commissioner-General for the Kenya Prisons Service, Wycliffe Ogallo.
On top of the comprehensive group life cover, NHIF will also offer the officers improved work injury benefits as the government endeavors to sustain these gains at the policy level and in line with relevant legislations.
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