Kirinyaga county, led by Governor Anne Waiguru, has fired over 200 casual health workers for demanding to be paid their salaries.
The health practitioners from the Kerugoya Referral Hospital, Kimbimbi, Kianyaga, Sagana among other Health centers were let go when they demanded to be paid their salaries that had accrued over several months.
The dismissed health workers who confirmed receiving the dismissal letters maintained that they would not leave their work stations before they received their payments in full.
In a letter, the county secretary Joe Muriuki refuted the claims stating that the current county wage bill was unsustainable and that the national treasury had raised concerns about it.
Muriuki went on to assure them that the county was awaiting the approval of the supplementary budget and that they will be paid as soon as it's done.
According to Citizen Digital, it was not clear how much money was in contention between the county and the employees that had to push the county to apply for a suplementary budget.
He then went ahead to state that the county had to take measures to tame the runaway costs of the wage bill thus letting go of the majority of its casual workforce.
Muriuki added that the Kirinyaga county administration had been forced to institute immediate staff rationalization measures.
The county government also went on to suspend the recruitment of casual workers and only ‘essential’ laborers retained.
Kisumu county was also on the spot in 2018 for firing over 500 casual workers.
Professor Anyang' Nyong’o, through the county secretary Olang'o Onudi, axed the casual workers on constitutional basis stating that “provisions under our Employment Act 2007 and other labor relations necessitate that casuals are not engaged for a period exceeding three months”.
