Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthoni Njuki has announced the presence of more than 3,000 ghost workers in the county's health department.
Njuki, who is also chairperson of the Council of Governors' Health Committee, said the ghost workers are under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programme.
"The UHC programme has over 3,000 participants who are being paid by the government but are not working," said the governor, who spoke on Tuesday.
Njuki said there are 8,700 health workers under the UHC programme, according to official records. "Of these, approximately 3,000 individuals are receiving salaries without providing any services in the hospitals."
"The government is losing taxpayers' money by paying ghost UHC workers who cannot be accounted for. If we check the records of the county government, we do not have 8,700 in the hospitals. There are almost 3,000 that you cannot account for," he stated.
He further explained that some of these workers have left their jobs, others have moved abroad, and some are even deceased, yet their names remain on the payroll.
"Even if the UHC medics are on strike over permanent and pensionable jobs and gratuity, which I agree is their right and should be paid, it is important for us to do headcounts," he added.
According to Njuki, the Ministry of Health recruited 8,571 health workers to support the counties. However, the governor noted that only 5,500 can be accounted for in the hospitals across the country.
He added that in Tharaka Nithi, only 219 UHC workers were employed in 2020, yet the current record shows 223 are present.
Njuki further blamed unnamed individuals in the health ministry for resisting efforts by the Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale to transfer payroll responsibilities to counties.
"There are cartels in the Health Ministry that don't want Health CS Duale to transfer the payrolls of some health workers to counties because they benefit from the current chaotic system," Njuki said.
Duale, on the other hand, said that the ministry will support counties in the verification exercise to clean up the UHC programme list.
"We first want to know exactly how many there are. UHC medics have signed a contract with the County Government. We as the Ministry of Health just play an advisory role, which is what we have done for the last five years," Duale added.
