Payroll hitch cited for delayed salaries for civil servants

A current payslip (far left) for a nurse in Kabarnet District Hospital seen by The Standard shows that hardship and health risk allowances had been removed while the extraneous allowances had been slashed by Sh10,000.

By STANDARD TEAM

NAIROBI, KENYA: Confusion has hit 23 counties after the National Government admitted that there was a payroll hitch during the transfer of more than 60,000 employees to devolved units.

This means that employees in the affected counties have either not been paid their January salaries or some of their allowances have been slashed.

The most affected employees are nurses, doctors and those from Ministry of Agriculture, whose functions were devolved to counties.

Mombasa, Tharaka Nithi and Nyeri counties have confirmed that they are yet to release January salaries.

In Kisumu, 150 employees have been rejected as their names were missing from the list sent from the National Government.

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Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru Wednesday admitted that a number of employees transferred from the national payroll to counties were yet to be paid their January dues.

“Twenty-three counties are affected by this error and in two of these counties, the allowances are being processed through a voucher system. In 21 counties, the arrears are being processed in this month’s payroll,” she said.

She attributed this to a payroll hitch during the transfer of staff to counties.

She said during the transfer of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD) system to county governments, a critical function that processes allowances for specific cadres in the service was inadvertently not activated.

“The error does not in any way affect salaries but only certain allowances paid to some categories of staff and do not apply across board to all public officers,” said Waiguru.

The Health ministry has also disclosed that there were anomalies in the processing of health workers’ payrolls.

Health Principal Secretary Fred Sigor, however, assured workers that their allowances, which were not factored in January pay, would be paid in full.

The PS said no one would lose his or her extraneous, risk and or hardship allowance that have been the bone of contention between the ministry and its staff who have already warned of an industrial action over the issue.

“Arrangements are being made by the relevant personnel to ensure that the same is paid in full,” he clarified while speaking in Eldoret.

A payslip for a nurse in Kabarnet District Hospital seen by The Standard shows that hardship and health risk allowances had been removed while the extraneous allowances had been slashed by Sh10,000.

Waiguru said 47 interim county payroll managers as well as 219 officers have been trained on the operations of IPPD. And the standard guidelines on payroll cleansing indicating how to verify each employee detail against the personal file have been distributed to all counties managers.

In Mombasa County, Deputy Governor Hazel Katana said all workers who were transferred to the county have not been paid because of a technical challenge.

However, she said payslips had been released and salaries would be available.

Ms Katana said about 1,000 workers from the Ministry of Health have been deployed to the county while about 60 come from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The wage bill for the county jumped to Sh380 million from Sh300 million following the deployment of civil servants.

Mombasa County has inherited 2,600 workers from the defunct Mombasa Municipal Council and wage bill has been a major headache.

Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago said health staff in the county should have no cause for alarm as the county would pay the allowances as defined.

But it is emerging that the county is reeling from a ballooning wage bill despite shortage of health practitioners, according to Deputy Governor Daniel Kiprotich.

Other counties that are affected include Kisumu where 150 employees from the National Government were rejected, Tharaka Nithi where employees are yet to receive their salary and Nyeri where there is also a standoff.

The Public Service Commission insists there was no guarantee of absorption of seconded staff to county governments in the ongoing rationalisation exercise.

A total of 24,143 and 19,289 medical and public health personnel respectively will serve in the 47 counties.

— Reporting by Jevans Nyabiage, Abigael Sum, Michael Wesonga and Patrick Beja