Kenya Medical Supplies Authority has resumed sackings of employees, with hundreds expected to be fired.
All the authority's 900 employees have been given a month's dismissal notice, which lapses on July 6.
They will then be required to reapply for their jobs. Those successful will be notified in September.
However, many employees complain their roles have been scrapped in a new organogram the management developed at a retreat in Naivasha last month.
Newly-appointed chief executive officer Terry Ramadhani confirmed the redundancy letters have already been emailed or physically sent to all staff.
Ramadhani, who previously served on the Kemsa board that recommended the sackings, said the authority must look internally to address the challenges it faces.
“Given the urgency and sensitive nature of the said notice, all employees are requested to access the said letters and send back duly signed copies on email or deliver physical copies to the respective department heads,” she said in a memo to the staff.
About 400 members of staff could be sacked, if the authority follows the recommendation given by the State Corporations Advisory Committee last year.
According to the Auditor General report for the financial year 2018-19, Kemsa had 791 employees, 450 more of the staffers it had been approved to hire. The total number had risen to 900 last year.
Ramadhani was named the CEO last month. Her hiring was immediately opposed by several groups, including the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya. They claimed the appointment violates the provisions of the Kemsa Act.
In announcing the retrenchment last week, Ramadhani asked the employees to observe professionalism.
“What this letter triggers is a period of intense discourse internally with each and every one of you, to figure out how best to proceed in this endeavour of ensuring that we optimise our operations for our collective benefit,” she said.
The sackings are part of a 'clean-up' after the Covid-19 scandal, where a few top officials are alleged to have aided the theft of billions of public money.
One employee told the Star most of those being sacked are young and junior staff who were not involved.
"Those suspected already left Kemsa. Hundreds of innocent, young people are being rendered jobless for mistakes they have nothing to do with," he said.
The sacked employees will be offered pay for 15 days of every year worked at the drugs authority.
The sackings were initially announced in November last year, but were stopped after public uproar.
The authority said that decisions on which positions to be affected would be based on seniority, skills, competencies, merit, ability and reliability.
At that time, the board said it would declare all its 900 workers redundant and then ask them to reapply for their jobs. It also ordered all non-core staff to work from home for the next 30 days, pending a review of their positions.
However, in a petition filed at the Employment and Labour Relations Court on October 5, the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union obtained orders restraining Kemsa from declaring redundancy or terminating the services of the union’s members.
KMPDU orders only protected ten doctors who work at Kemsa.
In January, Kagwe said the sackings would continue. He said the government would clean up the authority to “end corruption, enhance efficiency and create value for Kenyans' money.”
The CS further said the cleanup and reforms cut across sectors. “Yes, it is true there is a clean-up process going on at Kemsa. It was called for by the public, the media and both houses of Parliament."
He further said the clean-up could mean the government reengineers Kemsa into a tight fighting unit for efficiency and promotion of effective Universal Health Care.
"It won't just be masses of people," he said.
The CS said without an effectively running Kemsa, UHC will not work.
He spoke in a meeting organised by the Kenya Editors Guild.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
