City Hall staff in strike threat over Sh490m withheld deductions

Nairobi County workers have threatened to go on strike in 21 days over failure by City Hall and Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) to remit Sh490.5 million in statutory deductions.

The more than 12,000 workers under the Kenya County Government Workers Union (KCGWU) are protesting failure by the two institutions to remit the statutory deductions for October and December.

KCGWU Secretary-General Roba Duba said the deductions include pension contributions, bank loans, Sacco loans, union dues as well as NHIF contributions.

“...We hereby demand that you immediately remit all deductions without any further delay whatsoever. Be warned, failure to pay all the deductions within 21 days will leave us with no option but to institute serious industrial action against you holding the concerned officers personally responsible as to attendant consequences thereof,” Duba said in a statement dated January 26.

He explained that the move by City Hall and NMS went against the October 14, 2021 tripartite meeting where parties agreed to pay the workers their delayed gross salary.

“Your unlawful action has opened members to untold suffering as most members who had loans are likely to be penalised for actions that do not lie squarely at their behest. Additionally, it is bound to worsen the already dire situation of pending bills crisis within the county,” added Duba.

This comes after the workers’ union wrote to the Controller of Budget (CoB) seeking intervention in the matter.

In a letter to the CoB, Nairobi staff branch secretary Festus Ngari claimed City Hall had decided to divert the statutory deductions to unauthorised activities.

“It is our humble request that your able office will invoke the power and provision of article 252(1) and conduct an investigation and audit all the work plans for October, November and December to ascertain that public money shall be used in a prudent and responsible way,” read the letter in part.