Struggling Universal Health Coverage (UHC) staff in Tharaka Nithi County are speaking out after enduring over 150 days on legal strike, decrying withheld salaries, exploitative contracts, and what they describe as betrayal by both county and national leadership despite public promises of reform.
While the Ministry of Health under CS Aden Duale has committed to resolving key issues, including permanent placement, salary harmonization and gratuity, following a concluded headcount and verification process, Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki has reportedly moved to stop salaries altogether, further aggravating tensions.
The staff accuse the governor, who chairs the CoG Health Committee, of inaction and complicity, pointing to his earlier remarks about “ghost workers” as evidence that he was aware of systemic irregularities but failed to act.
Their concern now is that the governor’s actions may sabotage the final stages of long-overdue national reforms, raising fears that local political interests could derail gains meant to restore dignity and fairness to the frontline health workforce.
“Good afternoon Cyprian. Kindly help highlight this UHC staff matter in Tharaka Nithi County. UHC staff across all cadres have been on legal strike for over 150 days now. MOH through CS Duale has promised to solve their two major issues namely permanent placement/salary harmonization and gratuity upon completion of headcount and verification, which is already over. CS Duale has openly proclaimed that RTWF will be agreed upon this August after headcount and verification. Kindly note that this process is ongoing. On the other hand, Governor Muthomi Njuki, who’s the chair of the Health Committee COG, has orchestrated salary stoppage of UHC staff in his county. It’s key to note that this governor, who sits in a very influential committee in terms of human resources for health, has/did nothing to solve the UHC matter. Instead, he’s chosen to stop salaries for these staff who have suffered under very discriminatory salaries for over 5 years now. From his earlier pronouncements, Njuki claimed that there were about 3k ghost workers among the 8k UHC staff. This matter was published by Nation newspaper a while ago and repeated by CS Duale last week speaking on the headcount report. One wonders what this governor knew and what he did about it. Was Tharaka Nithi County Governor aware of this scandal and kept quiet about it? Is he introducing another confrontation in the form of salary stoppage in counties to try to cover up the mess already confirmed by the headcount? The UHC staff have been on industrial action from early this year. What’s the urgency in stopping salaries when the CS Health and MOH are almost at the tail end of solving it? CS Duale has publicly said that he’s going to deal with cartels in Afya House (Mafya House). Is the governor trying to introduce other battlegrounds to cover the mess he was aware of and did nothing? Is he trying to choke CS with more issues so as not to confront cartels? Kindly, let Tharaka Nithi Governor and COG allow CS Duale and MOH to solve this long-standing issue which they’ve been unable to solve for the last 5 years. Thank you, sir.”
