Senators have rejected an appeal by clinical officers and nurses to have their emoluments, which have been transferred to the counties, reversed. The senators described as baseless, the petition tabled in the House by their colleague Boni Khalwale (Kakamega), arguing that health services were among functions that had been devolved to counties. Chairman of the committee on Devolved government Kipchumba Murkomen said the request for the national government to manage the payroll of clinical officers and nurses at the counties lacked a constitutional basis. “It worries me that they don’t believe in the capacity of counties to pay them yet the Constitution is very clear,” said Murkomen, the Elgeyo Marakwet senator. He also argued that the medical officers had not singled out which of the 47 counties was unable to pay salaries, and accused them of making generalisations.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 08:07:14 +0000