Workers oppose new salary rule

What you need to know:

  • “What the county government is trying to do is against our professional ethics. How do you distribute salaries under a tree or in a social hall? Who is going to give us security?,”
  • The workers were advised to present themselves with their documents to the designated locations to collect their January salary.
  • County Public Service Board chairman Nashon Oguya insisted that the drive would not duplicate the head count done earlier by the national government.

The county government has directed all its workers to collect their salary cheques from the head office in person, in a move aimed at identifying ghost workers.

County Chief Communications Officer George Anyong’a said the process which started yesterday would go on until February 6.

“We have been paying staff yet there are no faces to the accounts that we load. This will help us know who exactly receives our salary,” he said in his office yesterday.

Kisumu County has an annual wage bill of Sh3.5 billion and there was need for the county to ensure that the staff are known physically, said Mr Anyonga.
However, the directive yesterday met stiff opposition from the workers who said they have been subjected to too many such activities.

They termed the exercise as outdated and unacceptable as their salaries could be mishandled.

“It is not true this is for purposes of a head count because they have conducted the exercise more than ten times. If anything, what was the need of wasting a lot of resources on the biometric assessment carried by the Ministry of Devolution,” a worker asked.

Doctors and nurses said they would not pick their January salary as proposed because the system amounted to abuse and mistreatment.

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

“What the county government is trying to do is against our professional ethics. How do you distribute salaries under a tree or in a social hall? Who is going to give us security?,” asked Mr Maurice Opetu, Deputy General Secretary, Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun).

Kenya Clinical Officers Union Secretary Erick Ondieki, wondered what would happen to staff members who are away on sick leave or study leave.

In an communication from county secretary Beatrice A. Omollo, all county staff would be required to produce original national identification cards, first letter of appointment, current letter of appointment and latest copy of pay slips when they present themselves for their pay cheques.

The workers were advised to present themselves with their documents to the designated locations to collect their January salary.

Mr Anyong’a said the drive was aimed at “filling the gaps identified by the biometric assessment of workers done late last year.”

“We not only want to physically see all these workers; we also want to know who receives the salary they have not worked for,” he said.

County Public Service Board chairman Nashon Oguya insisted that the drive would not duplicate the head count done earlier by the national government.

“The drive is to merge issues that arose out of the head count and get to know those employees who have since joined the payroll,” he said.