Thousands of health workers who were hired under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programme will not receive gratuity for their years of service, even as they transition to permanent and pensionable (PnP) terms, the government has clarified.
Principal Secretary for Medical Services, Dr. Ouma Oluga, revealed this during a televised interview on NTV on Wednesday, August 6.
His statement comes as a disappointment to many health workers who had been hopeful that the gratuity estimated to run into billions of shillings would be paid as promised.
“These workers are now joining the pensionable scheme. Once that happens, the idea of gratuity doesn’t apply,” Dr. Oluga said, pointing out that pension and gratuity are not paid simultaneously.
This statement appears to contradict an earlier press release issued by the Ministry of Health on May 13, which had indicated that gratuity payments would be processed at the end of contracts, in consultation with the Public Service Commission (PSC).
Many UHC staff had been counting on these funds, which amount to approximately 31% of their annual gross salaries.
The controversy surrounding gratuity is not new. Earlier this year, frustrated UHC workers staged protests outside Afya House, demanding both immediate payment and confirmation of their positions under permanent terms.
Oluga, however, insisted that there was no explicit provision for gratuity in the initial contracts, even though many workers have served beyond their original three-year terms. “If you’re moving someone from a contract to a pensionable role, then there’s no gratuity involved. That’s a transition, not a goodbye,” he explained.
He noted that the PSC had suggested paying gratuity only to those who would not be absorbed into the permanent workforce, a distinction that would exclude the majority of current UHC staff.
The Ministry of Health, in July said it would absorb more than 8,500 UHC staff onto permanent and pensionable terms.
The decision came after a verification exercise between the Ministry, the Council of Governors (CoG), and medical unions such as the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) and the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO).
In support of this integration, Ksh7.8 billion was spent by the government to integrate the UHC workers into county health systems.
The majority of these employeeswere recruited in 2019 as part of the universal healthcare implementation bythe government, with their numbers increasing substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Although their initial contracts were to expire in May 2023, they were continuously extended. The most recent extension would have kept them on contract until May 2026 until the government decided on permanent appointments instead.
