Governors to meet over UHC jobs row and e-procurement deadlock

Governors will on Monday hold an emergency meeting in Nairobi to resolve a deepening standoff with the national government over the future of more than 7,400 Universal Health Coverage (UHC) workers and the rollout of the electronic procurement system that has disrupted county budgets.

The Council of Governors (CoG) says the directives from the Health ministry and Treasury are unilateral, costly, and undermining service delivery in devolved sectors.

The Health ministry had ordered counties to absorb 7,414 UHC medics on permanent and pensionable terms starting September 1 without allocating the Sh7.7 billion required to pay their salaries, sparking sharp opposition from governors.

At the same time, the Treasury has directed that all tenders be processed through the electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) platform, a system that the National Assembly has also dismissed.

CoG Chairperson and Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi, in a notice dated August 28, convened the extraordinary meeting to discuss the two issues.
“The proposed agenda of the extraordinary council meeting is to deliberate on the following critical issues affecting service delivery to counties: management of human resources in the health sector and national government directive on the implementation of e-procurement,” Ahmed stated.

Governors say the Treasury has locked them out of uploading procurement plans into the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), paralysing the implementation of the 2025/26 budgets.

“The implementation challenges associated with the system have continued to paralyse operations, thereby denying service delivery to citizens in critical sectors such as health,” Ahmed wrote in a separate letter to Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi on August 21.
“In this regard, the Council asks the National Treasury to lift any administrative blocks related to the implementation of e-GP, failure to which we shall continue to seek legal redress on the underlying issues.”

Counties have also dismissed a Treasury plan to introduce a revenue collection system similar to e-Citizen, saying it targets their own-source income. But the more immediate flashpoint remains the order to employ UHC medics.

Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale last week announced the medics would be absorbed into public service from September 1.
“Out of the 7,629 UHC staff verified, 215 failed to present themselves; these individuals have been identified as either ghost workers or unqualified health professionals,” Duale said. He confirmed salaries for the 215 had been halted pending investigations.

Medical Services Principal Secretary Ouma Oluga, in a letter to CoG Chief Executive Officer Mary Mwiti on August 25, said officers absent from duty would not benefit from the new employment terms.

“It has been noted that a number of officers who presented themselves during the headcount exercise are currently not on duty, which has negatively affected service delivery in various county health facilities. To ensure accurate biodata, effective planning and continuity of UHC services, we request your assistance in submitting comprehensive UHC staff returns for all 47 counties,” Oluga wrote.

“The templates should capture the staff who are actively working … and the staff who are currently on strike or otherwise absent, indicating effective dates of absence.”

CoG Health Committee Chair and Tharaka-Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki said all counties had rejected the directive from the Health ministry.
“The relationship between the Ministry of Health and Counties is supposed to be collaborative, not directive,” Njuki said.

“The report from the verification exercise for the UHC staff has not been validated and officially shared, and therefore, the process of transfer that the ministry is proposing is not agreed upon.”

Njuki further noted that counties had been unable to carry out any procurement for the last three months.

“The extraordinary meeting of the Council of Governors is usually called when we have issues that require urgent attention that cannot be able to wait for the regular time that we meet. One of the things that is going to be on the table is that counties have not done a single procurement, and it is not possible for us to run for three months without running the government. You cannot do any development if you are not procuring, and it is because the e-procurement system is not ready,” he said in an interview with Citizen TV.

Meanwhile, UHC workers have issued a strike notice. In a letter to the Nairobi Regional Police Commander, the Health Sector Caucus said medics would stage nationwide protests from tomorrow to demand swift implementation of new employment terms.

“An estimated 5,000 UHC staff are expected to participate in this cause; the procession will start from Green Park Terminus, where members will peacefully assemble at 8:00 am,” caucus chair Peterson Wachira informed police while requesting security.

The medics want the government to gazette staff data after audit, make a formal commitment to pay gratuity within set timelines, and enforce the return-to-work formula.