The pain of county staff not getting paid for months

Senators, led by Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen, address the media at Parliament Buildings on Thursday on the Division of Revenue Bill. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

Tales of pain and suffering dominate the lives of county government workers across the country as most of them go without pay for months and struggle to feed their families.

Many of them are yet to send their children back to school while others live in constant debts accumulated due to delayed salaries.

In Trans Nzoia, county government staff, like many of their counterparts, remain a frustrated lot. The county government has not paid its staff salaries for July and August.

Health workers are the lucky ones after the administration borrowed some money and paid them to avoid a strike.

A staff who declined to be named explained how he has encountered hard times and is under threat of being evicted from a rental house.

“I have no peace. My two children have not reported to school and my landlord has threatened to evict me for not paying rent for two months,’’ said a health staff member.

Majority of the workers are disheartened after going without salaries, with some not reporting to their work stations.

“I cannot afford bus fare. I just report twice a week and most of us are demoralised,” said the worker.

Lack of drugs drugs have made it difficult for health facilities to operate, forcing majority of the residents to incur heavy expenses seeking treatment at private hospitals.

Deputy Governor Stanley Tarus admitted that county operations have been grounded by a cash crunch, with the health sector being the most affected.

“The delay in disbursing funds has made us to suffer. Drugs stock has been depleted and we don’t have funds to restock. Our staff are demoralised because of the financial crisis,” Dr Tarus said.

Also affected are Kisumu County workers who have felt the pinch of the stalemate between the National Assembly and the Senate over allocation of funds to counties.

The workers are yet to be paid their salaries even and they expressed fears that operations in the county are likely to grind to a halt if the situation is not resolved.

Interviews with several workers and union officials established that a majority of the workers are struggling to make ends meet.

Maurice Opetu, the secretary general of Kenya Union of Nurses Kisumu Branch said most workers are unable to send their children to school for the Third Term.

“It is a disaster. Some of us have not paid rent for the last two months and have already received eviction letters from the landlords,” Opetu said.

To add to their woes, some banks have already blacklisted the county workers and they cannot to access loans.

Opetu said there are workers who do not have bus fare to work.

Pay salaries

“We have been hoping that our salaries would be paid but so far nothing has been done. The problem with Kisumu is between the Executive and the County Assembly,” he said.

The protracted budget stalemate between Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o’s administration and the County Assembly means that the county government cannot utilise the funds that remained in its accounts from the 2018/19 financial year.

Speaker Onyango Oloo said most banks had agreed to give them funds to pay salaries.

“We have been paying our loans on time and as a result banks have agreed to come to our rescue,” Oloo said.

In Siaya County, workers have been paid using the funds that remained in the County Revenue Fund Account.

Speaker George Okode said County Assembly workers had been paid their salaries but painted a gloomy picture of the future of the payments.

“If the stalemate persists then there will be a big problem from next month,” Okode said.

In Laikipia, employees missed their payments for June and July after the Finance executive Murungi Ndai announced salary delays.

County employees are complaining of high interests on loans they took from financial institutions.

“I had to take a loan of Sh30,000 through mobile money to pay rent and school fees. We were affected because the interest rates are also very high. I am worried I could be left without any cash,” said Joel Kung’u.

Joyce Wangari, another employee, said she was servicing a bank loan and the salary delay led to her being penalised.

Hunger-hit

In Meru, Deputy Governor Titus Ntuchiu said the devolved unit was operating on loans after running out of funds to finance operations. He said some planned projects are likely to be delayed.

“We are surviving courtesy of the good relationship we have with commercial banks. It has been a challenge to pay our workers and ensure essential services do not grind to a halt,” Ntuchiu, who is also the acting Finance executive, said.

“We wanted to do our procurement early, which would have ensured our projects are delivered on time.”

County Assembly Majority Leader Victor Kariithi said the county has no money to buy relief food for hunger-hit regions such as Athwana, Rwarera and others in northern Meru.

 [Reports by Osinde Obare, Harold Odhiambo, Phares Mutembei and Jacinta Mutura]