Kenyan government refuses to cough USD110m for doctors pay increase and instead passes the buck to counties
Secretary General of Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists & Dentists' Union (KMPDU), Dr. Ouma Oluga said government and the counties need to find a way of working together and ensure doctor's get their due.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich told the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday that the national government’s budget is already stretched with catering for teachers and police pay hikes.
The committee had invited the council of governors, commission of revenue allocation and the treasury to engage on the division of revenue bill 2018 that is currently in parliament.
Senators were concerned that treasury had factored in the Sh11billion required for the health workers’ pay hike in the county share.
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Treasury asked counties to rationalize their budget to cater for the pay hike within the Sh314 billion ($3.14b) availed.
The current division of revenue bill proposes Ksh 314 billion be allocated to counties while the national government gets Ksh 1.3 trillion.
Secretary General & Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists & Dentists' Union (KMPDU), Dr. Ouma Oluga who spoke to Business Insider said the national government and the county government need to find a way of working together and ensure doctor's get their due.
"The relationship between the national government and the county government from a financial point has been poor since the onset of devolution so there is nothing new they are telling us really, the national government and the county government likes creating strifes and things like that but i don't think this time round people should be ready to take notice of such kind of nonsense i think it is a distraction in my opinion, both levels of government should find a way of working and solve their own problems without involving workers they should just find a way of fulfilling their obligations, the CBA is compulsory and there is no two way about it"
The governors however protested the proposal and called on the national government to increase their allocation to cater for the salaries.
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The county heads instead called on the national government to increase the fuel levy fund share for counties by Ksh 5billion ($50m) as per a resolution of the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council.
The governors also rejected treasury’s proposal to revise the revenue allocation downwards following the shortfall of Ksh 84 billion ($840m).
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