Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has questioned the Nairobi City County Government’s decision to shift all health facilities’ bank accounts from Cooperative Bank to Sidian Bank, terming the move suspicious and potentially corrupt.
According to an internal circular dated November 5, 2025, from the Office of the County Secretary and Head of County Public Service, all Chief Executive Officers of Level 4 and 5 hospitals, as well as officers in charge of county health facilities, were instructed to open new accounts with Sidian Bank.
The directive follows a resolution made by the Nairobi City County Executive Committee during its 69th meeting held on October 28, 2025, which designated Sidian Bank as the county’s principal banker.
Officials were asked to complete and submit the necessary documentation to the County Executive Committee Member for Finance and Economic Planning by November 7, a turnaround time of just two days.
Sifuna: Corruption is at play
Senator Sifuna, in a statement posted on his official X account, criticized the abrupt switch by the Johnson Sakaja-led government, raising questions about transparency and due diligence in the decision-making process.
“The health facilities in Nairobi have been banking with Cooperative Bank, a tier-one bank with a solid history and reputation. How you wake up one day and direct all of them to move to a tier-three bank cannot be explained any other way than that corruption is at play,” wrote Sifuna.
Sifuna suggested that the county administration may have failed to consider the potential financial and operational disruptions that could result from the transition.
He also implied that the move could be driven by vested interests rather than sound financial reasoning.
Sifuna argued that Sidian Bank, categorized as a tier-three bank, lacks the vast branch network and financial muscle of larger institutions such as Cooperative Bank, which could affect service delivery and transaction efficiency in public hospitals.
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