Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has restated his commitment to transfer payrolls and associated budgets for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) staff to counties despite protests by the medics.
The medics, who include nurses, clinical officers, public health officers, laboratory technicians, health assistants, and community health workers, were hired under the UHC program between 2019 and 2020 to enhance access to essential healthcare services.
Duale said that while the workers were initially under county governments, the previous administration illegally transferred them to the national government.
Thousands of health workers who were employed on contract under the UHC plan have been protesting, demanding permanent employment, payment of outstanding gratuities, and salary equalisation before their payroll is transferred to county governments on July 1, as planned.
Duale said that by transferring the UHC workers to the national government, the former administration broke the law.
"I will not reverse my decision to transfer UHC workers' payslips to the county governments because the national government does not have any contract with them," Duale said on Wednesday, May 14, in remarks at Afya House, Nairobi.
Duale's statement came after hundreds of UHC staff held demonstrations outside the Health ministry's headquarters, demanding reversal of the decision to transfer their payslips to counties.
The CS said his move is completely aligned with the constitution and is 'non-negotiable', even as he urged the Medical Services PS, Ouma Oluga, to begin the transfer process in the next one and a half months.
"I want to make it categorically clear to the UHC staff that we can discuss other things, but the transfer of the payslip is non-negotiable. It is the law," he said.
According to Duale, the transfer of the payslip, which he termed as unlawful, from the county governments to the Health Ministry was executed by the previous administration.
Duele said he is, however, willing to address other issues raised by the workers, such as pension and gratuity payments.
"I want to speak to the UHC staff because they came here and told me not to transfer their payroll to the counties. I will be the last person to violate the law because if you look at the constitution, health is devolved and is a function of our counties," he said.
He added, "The UHC staff have a contract with the 47 counties and not with the Ministry of Health. And I don't know why somebody somewhere, in the previous administration, decided to transfer the functions."
Duale has further directed the county governments and the Health Director General, Patrick Amoth, to ensure they audit and submit the names of every UHC staff in each county to the ministry, before it transfers the payslips to the devolved units.
"We expect that before we transfer the payslips, the counties should submit the names and details of UHC staff in every county, and also officials from the Ministry led by the director general should also do an audit going to ask for an audit," Duale said.
The UHC workers, on Tuesday, May 13, held protests complaining of delayed permanent employment, unpaid gratuities, discrimination in employment practices, and salary equalisation before their payroll is transferred to county governments on July 1, 2025.
On Tuesday, May 13, the CS said that the contracts of the staff with the county governments remain valid until May 2026. The CS said the gratuity of the staff will be paid once their contract period lapses.
Additionally, Duale claimed the absorption of the UHC staff to permanent and pensionable terms will be executed in the 2026/27 financial year, once their contracts expire.
