This archive report was first published on 18 November 2021.
On Tuesday, Devolution Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter announced plans to amend the County Government Act to introduce legislation allowing county employees to be transferred to other devolved units. The proposed amendment is expected to be ready within 14 days.
Currently, there is no law that allows counties to hire workers already working outside their areas of jurisdiction. The Constitution encourages respective counties to hire residents. Keter's proposal aims to address this issue and promote national unity.
"We want to see how we can bring on board the Public Service Board so that a nurse, for instance in Kericho, who wants to be transferred to Bomet, Nairobi, or wherever, can be transferred seamlessly across the 47 county governments because Kenya is one nation," Keter said.
His proposal follows a similar attempt by the Senate in January 2018 to introduce a Bill to allow transfer of county employees. The Bill encourages skill transfers and promotes national unity.
At the same time, Keter announced that the Ministry of Devolution, through the Department for International Development (DFID) programme, would spend Sh13 billion on training of medics countrywide. The initiative will focus on counties that were not included in the first phase of the World Bank and other donor-funded health projects.
Speaking at the same forum, Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony disclosed that his administration was in process of employing some 400 nurses on permanent and pensionable terms.
