Cabinet Secretary for Health Aden Duale when he appeared before the Senate Health Committee at Bunge Tower on May 7, 2026.

📋 Breaking It Down

The High Court has cleared the government’s mandatory travel health insurance scheme requiring foreign visitors to carry cover worth at least Sh6.4 million.

Justice Francis Rayola Olel dismissed a petition by three Marsabit residents challenging the programme and ruled that the policy was lawfully introduced.

He found that Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale acted within the law, the Social Health Insurance Act, in issuing the Gazette Notice dated July 30, 2026. The court said the notice remains valid.

📌 What You Need to Know

Cabinet Secretary for Health Aden Duale addresses journalists at Afya House in Nairobi on October 6, 2026, following Kenya’s first Ebola death.

The notice requires non-Kenyans entering Kenya for less than 12 months to have travel health insurance, with cumulative benefits of $50,000 (Sh6.4 million) for medical expenses, emergency evacuation, medicines, mental illness treatment and repatriation of remains.

The cover includes at least $20,000 (Sh2.5 million) for medical expenses, $25,000 (Sh3.2 million) for emergency medical transportation, $300 (Sh38,700) for medicines, $1,000 (Sh129,000) for mental illness and $5,000 (Sh645,000) for repatriation.

An August interim order had suspended enforcement while the court considered the petition.

The petitioners argued that the Health Cabinet Secretary could not assign Immigration officers a role in checking insurance because regulation of insurers belongs to the Insurance Regulatory Authority.

They also challenged the lack of clear criteria for insurers seeking approval, questioned the use of the electronic travel authorization system to collect insurance information and argued that the required policy framework had not been established.

📰 Source: Nation Africa