Kitui County, in Gazette Notices dated Friday, October 6, revoked the appointments of up to 1,039 county employees in the health sector.
Chief Executive Committee for Health and Sanitation, Ruth Koki, sent home the staff on Friday, August 25, according to the notices published today.
Koki stated that she revoked the appointments under the powers conferred to her by the Health Facilities Management Act, 2014. The majority of those sent home were members of various committees in several hospitals and dispensaries across the county.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by section 5 of the Kitui County Health Facilities Management Committee Act, 2014, as read together with Section 51(1) of the Interpretation and General Provisions Act, the County Executive Committee Member for Health and Sanitation revokes the appointment of the persons whose names are set out in the schedule below as members of the respective management committees in the designated capacities effective immediately," Koki stated.
She, however, did not explain why the 1,039 employees were sacked.
Each committee, which is appointed by the Health CEC and approved by the county government, consists of eleven members.
The employees were fired even though the county constitution outlines that they are eligible to hold their office for up to three years with room for reappointment.
Their major role is to supervise and control funds allocated to their designated hospitals.
Those fired held key roles in the committees, from Chairperson, Secretary (Med sup), Town Admins, SubCounty Admins for the other Business Communities, Nominated Representatives for women, special groups, youth, People living with Disability (PLWDs), and Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs).
Among the hospitals that were affected were;
Kitui County Referral Hospital
Mwingi Level IV Hospital
Tseikuru Hospital
Kyuso Hospital
Kituo Nuu Hospital
Kauwi Hospital
Katulani Hospital
Kitolo Hospital
Zombe Hospital
Ikutha Hospital
Ikanga Hospital
Mutomo Hospital
Migwani Hospital
Mutitu Hospital
Kitui County Governor Julius Malombe unveiled his county executive committee in August last year after winning the seat for the second time.
He went ahead to reinstate Mrs Ruth Koki Mwanzia as the Health Executive, a docket she had served during the previous term, making her among the two ministers who were lucky to be retained.
The governor went ahead to praise the committee members, terming them as youthful and qualified after confirming their requisite university academic qualifications as required by the law.
On her end, while being vetted, Koki assured the county assembly that she would not let them down if approved. She pledged to leverage her institutional memory to improve health service and draw inspiration from her previous success to enhance service delivery.
“Going forward, I plan to use the knowledge and the lessons learned to make this county better. To make our people have better health so that they can be productive to reduce poverty and improve their economic status.
“I achieved a lot during that time I worked as a [executive]. It was at the time that our county was rated number one in sanitation and maternal and child health. We improved the number of health facilities from 230 to 286 to reduce the distance, to reduce the cost and the time taken by our people as they sought health care services," Koki told Kitui County Members of the County Assembly in December 2023.
