President Ruto, CS Duale differ over Linda Mama

Speaking at Umma University, Kajiado County, during the phase three launch of an engineering course complex and commissioning of Dr Abdulrahman Al Sumait building, Ruto said he was part of those who spearheaded the program while he served as Deputy President and it was a noble model that served its intended purpose.

The president said the Linda Mama model challenges served as crucial lessons that have helped birth Linda Jamii program.

The head of state further defended strides made in health care access under his administration.

"Linda Mama was good and Linda Jamii is obviously better. It is an improvement from what it was in terms of the scope from just delivery of mothers which was the primary target and we've now improved it to cover pre-natal, delivery, post-natal and it's not only targeting mothers but also her household," Ruto noted.

Ruto remarks came moments after Duale sharply criticised Linda Mama as a fruitless initiative that led the country to fictitious debts.

Duale claimed that Linda Mama left the Ruto administration grappling with a Ksh5.6 billion debt, adding that the initiative did not address maternal deaths.

"A lot of misinformation was said about your transformational health agenda. We want to ask those who want to critique us to do so with facts and figures," Duale noted.

"They left us with a Ksh.30 billion fictitious NHIF debt. Under that, the Linda Mama debt was Ksh.4.8 billion (inpatient) and outpatient was Ksh.306 million. 17.5 million Kenyans visited over 10,000 facilities. 12.5 million of them accessed free medical care. I don't know whether that is transformative or reducing the gains somebody else has made."

The duo's remarks come days after former president Uhuru Kenyatta criticised Ruto's administration for crippling the Linda Mama initiative.