Cotu gives strike notice over new NHIF rates
The workers’ umbrella body on Tuesday issued a 14-day strike notice over the new health insurance rates.
The union said employees would boycott work if the revised National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) premiums, which took effect on Tuesday, were not withdrawn unconditionally.
“We are in hard economic times and workers have been forced to make do with budgets that are not commensurate with a salaried person as deductions alone leave most workers indebted to the employer,” said Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) secretary-general Francis Atwoli.
Mr Atwoli, who was addressing the 47th Labour Day celebrations at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, told Labour minister John Munyes that the new rates were punitive and exploitative.
He sensationally claimed that the increment was a ploy by politicians and businessmen to raise money for election campaigns.
No consensus
“It is clear that workers’ money has now become the target of politicians and businessmen.”
He told workers, government officials and envoys at the function that the NHIF should have consulted employers and Cotu before raising the fees.
“Be that as it may, Kenya’s Constitution provides that it is solely the responsibility of the government to shoulder the healthcare of its citizens as enumerated in Chapter Four under the Bill of Rights and not workers.”
The Federation of Kenyan Employers (FKE) said more consultations were needed to avert a strike.
“There is need for the insurance fund to listen to the cry of Kenyans, especially those workers whose employers are running a separate healthcare insurance scheme,” FKE boss Jacqueline Mugo said.
“Strike notices will not help the situation but discussions and agreement need to be reached to avoid industrial tension.”
Mr Atwoli noted that the issue was deeper than just monthly contributions, citing the questions raised over the fund’s capacity to manage the multi-billion-shilling kitty effectively.
He revisited the controversy over the fund’s decision to award two private clinics the bulk of the tenders to treat civil servants yet they did not have branches in rural areas where most Kenyans live.
Last month, NHIF director Richard Kerich said Clinix Health Care Centres got Sh84 million and Meridian Medical Centres received over Sh93 million in the first disbursement of premiums for treating civil servants. (READ: Union asks anti-graft body to probe NHIF)
Kenyatta National Hospital and Moi Teaching and Referral hospitals got Sh1 million and Sh6 million respectively. This sparked protests, with the civil servants’ union accusing the fund of impropriety.
The total allocation to the 377 medical providers picked, including private and public health facilities and faith-based health centres, was Sh634.7 million.
According to the new rates, persons earning less than Sh6,000 per month will be deducted Sh150 and those earning above Sh50,000 will pay Sh1,000. Employees with a regular income of Sh100,000 and above will pay Sh2,000.
Currently all workers pay Sh320 a month regardless of one’s level of income. The rates came into effect after the NHIF won a protracted court case filed by Cotu opposing the increment.
