Ruto gives gov't officials one week to resolve health workers’ salary arrears

At a town hall hosted by President William Ruto on the final day of the summit, striking health workers presented their grievances directly to the President, while the Council of Governors defended its handling of the challenges facing the sector.

The summit was convened to assess the health reforms undertaken during the first four years of President Ruto’s administration, including progress made, unresolved challenges and the way forward for the sector.

Among the most contentious issues was the recurring cycle of strikes by health workers, with tensions between unions and county governments once again coming to the fore.

“Nurses are currently on strike. Our Collective Bargaining Agreement has not been implemented,” said Seth Panyako, Secretary General of the Kenya National Union of Nurses.

Abdulswamad Nassir, Chairperson of the Health Committee at the Council of Governors, acknowledged delays in salary payments while questioning why a collective bargaining agreement signed in 2017 had remained difficult to implement.

“I think probably because of this transition, I delayed salaries by a day or two. The issue we are trying to make sure doesn’t happen, we need to ask ourselves, what made a CBA signed in 2017 difficult to implement for other governments?” Nassir posed.

“That CBA was signed under duress; it was an election year,” he added.

With the standoff threatening to undermine ongoing health reforms, President Ruto called for an end to delays in paying health workers and said the national government was ready to intervene where necessary.

“If today is August 19 and July salaries have not been paid, then there is a problem. It demotivates health workers. If there’s anything the national government can do to help, then we will go out of our way to help,” Ruto said.

The President also directed that the Salaries and Remuneration Commission be brought into discussions on unimplemented collective bargaining agreements.

He gave national and county government officials one week to find a solution to the impasse affecting Universal Health Coverage health workers.