Mombasa health workers have given the county government a five-day ultimatum to pay their salaries or they will seek alternative ways to address the issue.
In a November 7 letter, the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union, Kenya National Union of Nurses and Kenya Union of Clinical Officers said that at an earlier meeting county officials did not state when the September and October salaries would be paid.
“This was not well received by the healthcare workers of this county. The letter is to ask your office to pay the [salaries for the two months] by November 11 [or] the union will seek an alternative redress without further reference to your office,” the unions said.
In a rejoinder, Mombasa Chief of Staff Dr Noah Akala noted the salary delays were caused by a two-month delay in the disbursement of equitable share cash from the National Treasury.
“It is true that we have had delays in paying staff salaries. The governor has been actively engaging the national government on this issue and it even formed the basis of discussions last week when the Deputy President paid a courtesy call to our offices,” Dr Akala said.
He said officials were in touch with labour unions on what the county was doing to address the workers’ concerns.
He said county officials and a financial institution were in talks to advance salaries to the affected staff as the local government works to raise money from its own sources.
Officials said on November 1 that it would take more time to pay workers.
In an internal memo from the office of the county secretary and head of public service, chief officers were urged to advise their staff to be patient as the devolved unit worked to solve the issue.
“This is to inform all the county chief officers that the governor chaired a consultative meeting on November 1, 2022 with the county union leaders representing employees from different county departments,” the memo said.
Other matters discussed at the meeting were remittances of statutory deductions and medical insurance. BY DAILY NATION