Environmental and public health officers want Cabinet Secretary for Health Aden Duale to absorb the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) workers and harmonise their salaries according to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) before transferring their payroll to the counties.

Speaking on Sunday at a public event in Garissa, Duale said that starting from July 1, all UHC workers will be paid by their respective counties according to their contracts.

The move has rattled the county government, which accuse the minster of trying to run away from its responsibility and transferring national government liabilities to under-resourced regional governments.

The cabinet secretary further noted that the ministry lacks the resources to hire them on permanent and pensionable terms, noting that only Ksh3.5 billion was available for contracts.

However, speaking during a meeting with public health officers drawn from Garissa County, the national General Secretary of the Kenya Environmental Health and Public Health practitioners (KEHPHPU) Brown Ashira said the national government had enough time to allocate money for the nurses’ absorption.

Ashira said that, while the budget process is parliamentary, ministries also play a key role by presenting the budget estimates for key projects or programmes.

The trade unionist observed that the minister should first harmonise the salaries, absorb them on permanent and pensionable terms, noting that transferring payroll to the counties without proper procedure would negatively affect the workers.

“The UHC workers were first given a contract for three years, and then it was renewed for another two years to facilitate the absorption into permanent and pensionable terms by looking for money to allocate to them,” Ashira said. 

“As a union, we do not support transferring our colleagues’ payroll to counties because we know what happens there. There is a lot of clannism, nepotism, and corruption. Without proper harmonisation of the salaries according to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), our colleagues will suffer,” he added.   

Juma Mahero, national vice chairperson for KEHPHPU on his part called on the ministry of health to ensure that first, necessary resources are transferred to counties before sending the UHC workers.

“We are telling the cabinet secretary to first transfer resources before transferring the payroll. You cannot transfer people and then resources later. How will they be paid or promoted when their records are with the national government?” Mahero argued.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Erick Kyalo