•“Governor Wavinya Ndeti said those on study leaves shouldn’t earn salaries and extraneous allowances be removed arguing that there were ghost workers. We are saying that if there are ghost workers, it isn’t us,” Okumu said.
•“There is total shutdown at Machakos Level 5 and Kangundo Level 4 Hospitals. No nurses, doctors and clinical officers at work,” he said.
Machakos County health executive Daniel Yumbya has accused some Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union alongside their sister Kenya National Union of Nurses of paralyzing health services in the county by calling illegal industrial strikes.
Yumbya on Wednesday claimed that some of the union members were pulling patients from wards at Machakos Level 5 Hospital.
He was responding to the Machakos health workers' strike that started on Tuesday which saw services completely paralyzed at Kangundo Level 4 and Machakos Level 5 Hospitals.
The unions’ officials on Tuesday called for a go-slow citing delayed payments of October salaries, and the removal of extraneous allowances including for officers on paid study leaves.
“County workers have not been paid October salaries. While on leave, they always go to train so as to return to the county with more skills,” Lower Eastern KMPDU chairman Dr Charles Okumu said on Tuesday.
“Governor Wavinya Ndeti said those on study leaves shouldn’t earn salaries and extraneous allowances be removed arguing that they were ghost workers. We are saying that if there are ghost workers, it isn’t us,” Okumu said.
Okumu said their members had been at work ruling out the ghost workers' claims among their members.
“There is a total shutdown at Machakos Level 5 and Kangundo Level 4 Hospitals. No nurses, doctors and clinical officers at work,” he said.
He said county health workers must be paid their delayed October salaries, study leaves and extraneous allowances.
Okumu said the governor was being misled on matters of health workers.
Yumbya accused the unions’ officials of sabotaging health services in the county even after holding a meeting and reaching an amicable consensus.
“We have faced a challenge in the process of paying workers’ salaries for the month of October and as a result, the payments process was withheld,” Yumbya said.
He said the county had since Tuesday experienced workers' go–slow at Machakos Level 5 hospital.
Yumbya said he held a consultative meeting with the unions’ officials on Tuesday morning and agreed on certain parameters that each side was to meet.
“We agreed that health workers earning extraneous allowances which may not be equivalent to what they are required to earn, a list be provided for verifications from their stations of work,” he said.
He said they had a meeting with KMPDU and KNUN chairpersons last night and agreed in principle on allowances that were being paid to officers working in stations where the amounts were not equivalent in those places.
Yumbya said, for instance, they had suspected a case of extraneous allowance being paid to a health worker purportedly stationed at a facility in the Masinga sub-county which is a hardship area while the officer in question was at a facility within the Machakos sub-county.
“Another one is paid an extraneous allowance equivalent to Nairobi while the person is in Machakos,” he said.
He said the officials had agreed that the payroll would be processed by Friday, and they would tell their members to go back to work.
“We hereby request your office to authorize payments of salaries, and extraneous allowances including for officers on paid study leave. Those officers who will be faced with irregularities could be surcharged to recover full amounts paid irregularly in the next payroll,” a letter written to Yumbya by the unions’ officials read in part.
“Subsequently, we thereby call off the go slow and call upon staff to resume duties immediately,” the letter dated November 22 read in part.
It was signed by both Lower Eastern KMPDU chairman Charles Okumu and Machakos county KNUN chairman John Nyaboga.
Yumbya said the officials, however, went against their agreement and instead incited their members to continue with the go–slow.
“Later on this morning, we got information from one of the officers who were in the said meeting that some officials told the workers to continue with their strike. Health is essential to service and national security matters,” he said.
The health executive said he had screenshots and videos of some members of the unions pulling patients from hospital wards.
He said health workers should abide by a professional code of conduct.
Yumbya said it was only health workers on strike, others were at work normally despite their October salaries delay.