SRC: Why we will not approve nurses’ allowances

An agreement signed between nurses and the Government has now been disregarded by the salaries commission which says there are no funds to pay their allowances.

The Salaries and remuneration Commission (SRC) has disregarded the Return to Work Formula signed in November 2, 2017 saying the allowances the nurses were awarded are outside the set parameters.

SRC Chair Lynn Mengich said during the 2017 nurses strike, the commission issued specific parameters that the Ministry of Health and Council of Governors were supposed to follow when engaging the nurses.

Mengich said, that was not followed and the nurses went ahead to be awarded Sh10,000 increment in their nursing service allowance and Sh15,000 more as uniform allowance.

The agreement stipulated that these allowances will be paid in three tranches of financial years 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21. A Collective Bargaining Agreement(CBA) was also to be signed and registered in court within 30 days-from November 2, 2017.

But yesterday the SRC chair, who has been silent since the strike began, said an approval cannot be made to pay the nurses as the Commission is guided by a job evaluation exercise that evaluated and remunerated all public servants and state officers and the inability for counties to afford.

Mengich said it does not matter even if some counties write commitment letters that they will pay, the fact remains that what is being demanded is not fiscally attainable and sustainable.

“The counties can commit that they have a budget, but a budget is just an estimate. It is not actual funding,” she said.

Mengich said even if counties go ahead and show that they have funds, the question remains-how sustainable will it be.

As per the SRC’s estimates, the uniform and nursing service allowances being demanded by nurses will cost the Government Sh3.4 billion, but if the health service allowance will be enhanced to the level of nurses’ nursing service allowance, then that will cost an additional Sh2.5 billion.

“There is no funding as we speak. No county has confirmed that they have funds. It is not about discriminating the nurses. We do not want to create huge gaps within the same job groups that have been already evaluated to be of the same value,” said Mengich.

The SRC chair argued that once the National and County Government gives in to nurses demands, then other health cadres, like clinical officers who have already declared that they will go on strike-will also demand the same and in the interest of fairness, they will also have to be given.

Though some counties, among them Machakos, have paid the nurses the said allowances, it has not been done through the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database(IPPD).

Instead, these counties have been paying using manual vouchers or depositing straight to their bank accounts.

“These are public funds, and no county has mandate to pay any money as salaries, besides using the system,” said Mengich.

Yesterday, the Senate said it will be forced to engage individual counties in the ongoing nurses’ unrest after the Council of Governors delinked itself from negotiations.

On Friday, CoG did not honour summons to appear before the Senate Labour Committee.

The committee chair Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja said CoG had explained itself that it was not the nurses’ employer.

This explanation has brushed the Kenya National Union of Nurses(Knun) officials the wrong way who vowed not to obey the court order obtained by CoG to have nurses back to work.

“If they(CoG) are not our employers then what mandate did they have to go to court?” posed Knun Deputy General Secretary Maurice Opetu.

Knun is among the bodies summoned to appear before the Senate Labour Committee to appear on Friday alongside Salaries and Remuneration Commission(SRC), Controller of Budget, Ministry of Labour, and Ministry of Health.

Both Labour and Health Cabinet Secretaries availed themselves but the meeting was adjourned due to a lack of quorum from the senators.

In the November 2, 2017 Return to Work Formula, CoG was party to the deal and was signed by then Chair Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok.

However, while some counties have agreed to pay the nurses the said allowances as stipulated in the deal-spread across three financial years-others claim the pay cannot be effected due to an objection by SRC.

“We have seen some counties paying through manual vouchers while others depositing the money directly to the nurses’ accounts. For such counties, we shall not victimize them for not paying using the system,” said the Labour Committee Chair Sakaja.

Sakaja said the senate passed a budget of over Sh300 billion, and for the counties to depend on SRC to decide if nurses should be paid or not is a mandate the salaries commission is overstepping.

“That is not devolution at all. In fact, querying if counties have money or not to pay lies with the controller of Budget, not SRC,” said Sakaja.

Sakaja said Article 230(4) stipulates that SRC sets remuneration for state officers and can only advice when it comes civil servants.

“And in such a case, I can decide to take or refuse your advice,” he said.

In a letter by CoG dated November 16, 2018 addressed to Knun Secretary General Seth Panyako, CoG Chief Executive Officer Jacqueline Mogeni said if the union had planned a strike, then a notice should be issued to each county.

“We wish to bring to your attention that the Council of Governors is an intergovernmental body that coordinates activities for the 47 counties and as such not an employer,” said Mogeni in the letter.

At least 22 counties are yet to either pay or make a commitment in writing that they will pay. Seven more counties will be joining the nurses strike starting Monday next week.

Labour CS Ukur Yatani confirmed that in a week’s time, a conciliation committee he instituted to mediate in the nurses’ strike, will have a concrete decision which will be submitted in court.