Civil servants yet to be paid January salaries in 28 counties

The Union of Kenya Civil Servants has given 28 counties until Monday to ensure they pay their workers’ January salaries or get strike notices.

Secretary General Jerry ole Kina revealed that they had received complaints from civil servants drawn from 5 counties who had been listed by the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) for failing to settle loans, others having had their premiums cancelled by insurance companies.

Eldoret main prison suppliers on Saturday protested over pending bills worth at least Ksh.200 million which had cost some of their associates their lives.

The suppliers decried the fact that they are drowning in debt with some having supplied the prison over 9 years ago.

Lucy Tanui, one of the suppliers that spoke to Citizen Digital, said: “Tumekuwa tukiomba pesa kwa banks na microfinance na imetibidi tuuze vitu tulikuwa tumeinvest ili tulipe madeni. mimi nadai serikali Ksh. 6 million.”

Abdi, yet another one, said: “Kutoka 2012 mpaka 2019, hiyo pesa yetu imepotea, tumesupply serikali, president kila wakati anaongea juu yake sijui..president kwa nini unaongea kitu haifanyiki ama ni officers wake hawaskii.”

Union boss ole Kina has since put the government on notice to pay civil servants their dues, initiate a process to clear those listed by CRB and ensure statutory deductions are remitted to the respective institutions.

“Iwapo mishahara haitakuwa imelipwa kufikia saa kumi Jumatatu ni kumaanisha hakuna kazi itakuweko kuanzia Jumanne…kazi zote zitasitishwa hadi wakati wafanyikazi watalipwa mishahara,” he told Citizen TV.

He dismissed the assertion that some of the counties are victims of the National Treasury’s decision to teach 14 counties that had not settled their pending bills a lesson, saying salaries were not part of development monies.

According to the National Treasury, 8 counties have given payment proposals indicating that they will settle eligible pending bills by the end of June 2020.

As at February 10 this year, counties had outstanding pending bills of Ksh.19.7 billion, the national government on the other hand has committed to settling the remaining Ksh.2.5 billion worth of pending bills by end of March 2020.