Clinical officers give governors 48 hours to effect salary deal

Council of Governors chairperson and Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya addresses the media. FILE PHOTO | NMG

By LYNET IGADWAH
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Summary

• The demand comes four days after the health workers resumed duty after the Council of Governors (CoG) vowed to reject the deal citing a lack of budgetary allocation and consultation.
• Under the deal, clinical officers were set to get an enhanced comprehensive group life insurance, increased risk allowance and have contracted officers employed on a permanent basis.

Clinical officers have issued governors a 48-hour ultimatum to implement a pay deal that counties say they cannot afford.

The demand comes four days after the health workers resumed duty after the Council of Governors (CoG) vowed to reject the deal citing a lack of budgetary allocation and consultation.

Under the deal, clinical officers were set to get an enhanced comprehensive group life insurance, increased risk allowance and have contracted officers employed on a permanent basis.

“The union demands that the agreed return to work formula be fully signed in the next 48 hours to allow the continuation of service delivery, failure to which we shall go by CoG’s resolution that the deal does not apply to them,” said George Gibore, Kenya Union of Clinical Officers secretary-general.

CoG chairman Wycliffe Oparanya said the council was not consulted in the deal between the union and the State, which ended a 26-day strike in December. The boycott had paralysed health services amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Oparanya said the issues raised in the deal had been addressed by individual counties.

He added that the Treasury did not allocate funds for the pay deal in the current budget.

Governors poked holes into the deal, saying increasing risk allowance to only two cadres will have a ripple effect in the health sector.

The changes require the approval of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, said Mr Oparanya in a statement.

The county chiefs said implementation of the life cover and conversion of contracts to permanent and pensionable terms would require huge resources.

“The deal has a huge monetary implication that has neither been factored in the current nor the forthcoming financial year.”

He said implementing the demands by the clinical officers would require a special conditional grant allocated to each county government.

The medics blamed the CoG for the woes in the health sector since the onset of devolution in 2013, saying it has led to more than 103 strikes.