Kenyatta National Hospital staff workers are set to get more than Sh200 million pay rise annually in new proposals by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
According to the SRC, the proposed basic salary structure – to be backdated to July 1 - will form the basis for the management to negotiate with the unions representing KNH workers.
The Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions and Hospital Workers, Kenya National Union of Nurses and Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union have been agitating for the Health ministry to harmonise salaries for hospital workers.
SRC has directed that the talks be within a collective bargaining agreement framework and registered in the Labour Relations Court.
It has also assigned new grades to various cadres of staff in the wake of organisational restructuring at KNH that saw some roles merged, renamed, or split into new ones.
In the proposal signed by SRC CEO Anne Gitau, the basic salary of KNH office assistants will be Sh33,152, a Sh10,000 increase.
Directors will be the greatest gainers in the proposed changes with the minimum salary rising by Sh61,000.
Their minimum salary stands at Sh193,873. The proposed minimum will be Sh254,076 to peak at Sh378,725.
The CEO’s salary remains capped at Sh560,000. A new role of senior director has been created at Sh296,818 minimum pay.
Chief specialists, if the proposal is adopted, will earn up to Sh253,366 from the current peak of Sh229,764.
Chief managers, senior specialists, and deputy directors will be paid on the same scale, peaking at Sh230,451. Currently they earn a maximum of Sh202,616.
Managers, medical specialists and assistant directors have had their peak basic pay raised by over Sh19,000.
The minimum pay for principal, senior medical, and dental officers will increase by Sh10,000 from Sh76,334.
Principal technologists will earn Sh65,800 as minimum from Sh63,000 whereas the pay for senior technologists will rise by Sh6,000.
The average increment for technologists, technicians, senior drivers and clerical officers will be Sh6,000.
SRC said its current advisory is for the 2017/18 – 2019/20 pay review cycle and will be the baseline for the next cycle covering 2021/22 – 2024/25.
The salaries commission has asked KNH to place the jobs in the rightful grading structure and implement the new one – set to push KNH salary budget to Sh2.4 billion per year.
Jobs whose current salaries are below the new structure would be placed in the rightful grading structure.
“For jobs whose current salaries are above the basic salary, retain the existing salary structure – with annual increments – until the next review cycle,” Gitau said in the communication to Health PS Susan Mochache.
“All the other allowances and benefits to be paid as per existing government circulars,” the memo reads.
Mochache on Monday asked KNH chief executive officer Evanson Kamuri to take action on the SRC proposals.
Health workers unions have been up in arms over SRC failure to implement a law enacted in 2012 which elevated KNH to a parastatal.
KNUN secretary general Seth Panyako welcomed the adjustments when contacted by the Star.
He said the problem has not been SRC’s but the ministry's, which he accused of the tendency to snub calls for pay adjustments.
“SRC has not been giving us problems. A similar circular was issued to the Health ministry in 2016 but they have refused to engage us on that circular so that we have a CBA,” Panyako said.
“Tentatively, I have no problem with the recommendations following the rider for talks with the management for us to come up with a CBA.”
The SRC proposal is expected to end the years of standoff between the workers and the KNH management over the pay review.
- mwaniki fm
