(NAIROBI, KENYA) – Nairobi Hospital has told the High Court it remains financially stable, well capitalised and able to support its current operations and future growth, rejecting claims by petitioners that the institution faces financial collapse.
The hospital made the submission in response to a petition by Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah, Bernard Muchiri Muchere and Naomi Nyakerario Misati. The petitioners allege financial and governance failures and dispute the legitimacy of the hospital’s register of members, which determines voting rights at the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
The High Court temporarily halted the AGM scheduled for 6th February 2026, pending determination of the dispute.
In its response, the hospital said its trustees reaffirmed on 11th December 2025 that the institution’s asset base was strong, strategically deployed and well positioned to support both current operations and future growth.
The Board of Management, which is responsible by law for preparing the company’s annual financial statements and reports, also found that the hospital had maintained financial stability.
“In fact, the Hospital reported an increase of its revenue from KES 12.21 billion ($94.4 million / GBP 74.3 million) to KES 12.86 billion ($99.4 million / GBP 78.3 million) despite a repressed macro environment,” company secretary Gilbert Nyamweya said in an affidavit.
The petitioners are seeking declarations on the hospital’s public interest status and the completion of investigations by agencies including the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, Assets Recovery Agency and Kenya Revenue Authority.
The hospital said it is misleading for the petitioners to claim the institution is in financial ruin.
Mr Omtatah and his co-petitioners said the hospital’s audited 2024 accounts showed a KES 2.214 billion ($17.1 million / GBP 13.5 million) deficit, a negative operating fund and governance problems serious enough for a multi-agency probe.
“My Lord, the Petitioners seek conservatory and interim orders to preserve the substratum of the Petition pending its determination on the merits,” Mr Omtatah said.
The petitioners also cited alleged losses exceeding KES 3 billion ($23.2 million / GBP 18.3 million), supplier arrears of more than KES 4 billion ($30.9 million / GBP 24.4 million) and questioned the status of about KES 9.1 billion ($70.4 million / GBP 55.4 million) in accumulated depreciation funds.
The hospital disputed the wider interpretation placed on these figures. It said it is misleading to describe the institution as being in financial ruin without considering its wider asset base, revenue performance and financial position.
It argues that the revenue growth shows the institution continues to generate substantial income and maintain its operations, contrary to the petitioners’ portrayal of a hospital on the verge of financial collapse.
Mr Nyamweya said the petitioners have presented an incomplete picture of the hospital’s affairs in an attempt to justify judicial intervention in its internal management.
The official also challenged the authority of the petitioners to file the case, arguing they are not shareholders, members, directors or officials of the company.
He argued that restraining the AGM could expose the hospital and its officials to breaches of the law and personal liability.
The hospital has also rejected claims that its status and public interest role make it a State entity. It maintains it is a private company limited by guarantee, registered under the Companies Act, and is neither a State corporation, public body nor government owned enterprise.
The petitioners contended that the institution sits on public trust land and performs an essential public function that requires greater constitutional accountability. The hospital disputed this, saying the properties, Nairobi/Block27/467 and Nairobi/Block27/470, are held under 50 year leaseholds that began in 2023.
It argues that the leasehold interests amount to private land and that the titles specifically provide for use of the properties as a hospital and for approved related purposes.