Consumer Lobby Challenges Ksh 200B Kenya–US Health Deal in Court
COFEK has taken legal action to challenge the governance and oversight terms of Kenya’s new Ksh 200 billion health partnership with the United States.
The Consumer Federation of Kenya argues that the agreement, signed on 4 December 2025 in Nairobi by President William Ruto and US Secretary of State Marc Rubio, contains unclear provisions that could weaken public safeguards. The five-year framework makes Kenya the first African country to enter a government-to-government health accord with the United States and is intended to support national health programmes through advanced technologies and long-term system reforms.
Funding will be provided as direct government assistance rather than loans, a shift that both governments say is meant to reduce reliance on conventional donor arrangements. COFEK maintains that key sections of the memorandum lack clarity, particularly those related to data use and sovereignty.
In its 10 December statement, the federation said consumers must be involved in decisions affecting their health data and insisted that transparency is essential when identifying private actors, such as pharmaceutical companies, laboratories, technology firms, surveillance providers and cloud-storage operators, who may take part in the initiative.
Government officials have said that the United States will access only aggregated data without personal identifiers and that Kenya’s existing laws provide adequate protection. COFEK disputes this, arguing that governance of health data should be public, auditable and jointly supervised, with consumer representation guaranteed.
The petition cites constitutional provisions on consumer protection, public participation and privacy, specifically Articles 46, 10, 232 and 31, alongside the Data Protection Act. It also warns that Kenya could risk losing strategic control of key health infrastructure and pharmaceutical supply chains if external actors dominate critical systems.
