259 Siaya health workers petition assembly over mass dismissal

Siaya County Assembly Speaker George Okode. [Olivia Odhiambo, Standard]

Two hundred fifty-nine health workers have petitioned the Siaya county assembly over what they term as unfair dismissal and non-payment of salaries, demanding reinstatement or a lawful justification for their removal.

In a Tuesday sitting, Speaker George Okode directed the assembly's general oversight committee to investigate how the petitioners were recruited, deployed, verified and later dismissed.

"The committee should also establish the status and authenticity of alleged employment documents held by individual petitioners, such as offer letter, acceptance letter, appointment letter, deployment letter, arrival letter and any other relevant documents," noted Okode.

He added, "The general oversight committee should also establish any wrongdoing on the part of the concerned parties involved and make appropriate recommendations on a case-by-case basis for actions by relevant bodies."

The committee has 30 days to complete the probe.

In their petition, the workers asked the assembly to compel the county executive committee for Health and the county public service board to produce official records of the recruitment and verification exercises.

The petitioners said the county public service board recruited and deployed 502 health workers in January 2025, who served for eight months without pay.

They noted that on Thursday, September 11, the county government dismissed 382 of them, branding them ghost workers and alleging they held fake employment documents.

A list of 120 workers was read as successful candidates.

The petitioners said they had undergone two separate verification exercises by the county government before their dismissal and had been confirmed as duly posted and serving in their respective stations.