Health workers in Tharaka Nithi County have threatened to down their tools on September 30 if they will not have received their monthly dues by the 27th of the same month.
The County’s Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) Secretary-General Fabian Marigu said medics who have not received their August and September salaries are not only unable to service their loans but are also not receiving NHIF services in medical facilities.
“We are giving the county government up to September 30th to pay their salaries and remit all statutory deductions to relevant institutions or there will be no health care services in public health facilities,” said Marigu.
He was supported by the Secretary-General of the Laboratories Union Nicholas Gitonga who said if they will not have received their dues by Monday next week they are going to down their tools.
He said they are also unable to pay rent and wondered where the county government was expecting them to operate from.
The Clinical Officers in the county are also not ready to continue working beyond the said date.
The branch secretary of the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers Godfrey Mwenda said that now that the impasse between the senate and national assembly has been resolved there is no other reason for the county government to continue withholding their dues.
On September 5, pressure from governors, the threat of a shutdown in counties and President Uhuru Kenyatta’s firm stand forced The Senate to eat a humble pie and agreed on a Ksh316 billion allocation to the devolved units in the 2019/2020 financial year.
Tharaka Nithi will get Sh3.92 billion of the allocation.
Nairobi and Turkana were allocated the biggest shares of these funds.