Baringo county executive in charge of health services Moses Atuko (left)
addresses workers from Kabarnet District Hospital who stormed the
county headquarters on Wednesday complaining about unclear deductions in
their January payslips. Photo/Wycliff Kipsang
By NEVILLE OTUKI, notuki@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- Medical staff in Baringo, Mandera and Nandi counties claim that their January salaries had been slashed by as much as Sh50,000.
- KPMDU met Thursday with officials from the Ministry of Devolution and Planning, the Public Service Commission and the Council of Governors to discuss pay cut issue.
- Health secretary James Macharia said county officials were obliged by law to ensure full pay for workers, attributing the discrepancies to a technical hitch.
Health workers have given county governments one week to address anomalies in their pay slips, failure to which they will go on strike.
This follows revelations by medical staff in
Baringo, Mandera and Nandi counties that their January salaries had been
slashed by as much as Sh50,000
.
.
“We cannot work in a situation where pay slips are
arbitrarily tampered with. If nothing is done to pay doctors in full
within one week, we shall withdraw our services forthwith,” Kenya
Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) secretary-
general Sultani Matendechero said.
He said the industrial action could come as early as next week should the discrepancies not be addressed.
KPMDU met Thursday with officials from the
Ministry of Devolution and Planning, the Public Service Commission and
the Council of Governors to discuss pay cut issue.
“It was resolved that the matter will be solved in
the next one week. We are now keeping vigil to ensure they keep their
word,” said Mr Matendechero.
Health secretary James Macharia said county
officials were obliged by law to ensure full pay for workers,
attributing the discrepancies to a technical hitch.
“It is illegal for counties to withhold pay of
workers,” Mr Macharia said, asking the aggrieved workers to submit their
pay slips to the ministry for scrutiny.
Section 138 of the County Government Act says
that the remuneration, allowances and pension or other benefits of
workers seconded to counties will not be altered to their disadvantage,
meaning only an upward pay review is allowed.
Mr Macharia said that the Health Bill, which
doctors wanted to be in place first before devolving their functions,
would be taken to Parliament by the end of next month.
“We are waiting for Public Service Commission to
complete updating public human resource policy before the Bill comes
around,” he said.
County governments started managing the healthcare
workers’ payroll this month following decentralisation of health
services from the national government in line with the Constitution.
Delays
Mr Matendechero said that most counties were
grappling with management of staff payroll as manifested by delays in
pay slip processing.
He said the payslips were issued this week, a fortnight later than was the norm at the ministry.
He said the payslips were issued this week, a fortnight later than was the norm at the ministry.
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