UHC workers threaten strike, demand permanent terms and gratuity

Universal Health Coverage(UHC)workers protesting outside parliament demanding to be employed on permanent and Pensionable terms on October 7,2025.[Benard Orwongo,Standard]

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) workers on Tuesday called upon the Ministry of Health to employ them on permanent and pensionable terms.

They also demanded 31 percent gratuity on their salaries, saying they were previously on contract before being absorbed by the counties.

“We were told that our terms of service have been changed to permanent and pensionable, but to date, we are in the second month, and that has not happened,” said Desmond Wafula, a UHC worker, during a protest at the Ministry of Health (MoH) headquarters in Nairobi.

He added, “Now, what the minister has done is to harmonise our salaries instead of sending our permanent and pensionable money. We have said that we will not give up, and we shall be here at the Ministry protesting every Tuesday until our grievances are addressed.”

The workers said Parliament allocated Sh6.5 billion for the UHC transition, which was to take effect in July this year for 10 months. However, the harmonised salaries (with allowances) they received were only for September, without arrears.

The workers, who also said they have not been designated, marched from Green Park Terminus to the MoH offices and then to Parliament Buildings, expecting to be addressed by Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale.

The UHC healthcare staff, who were hired during the Covid-19 pandemic to support the public health system, total slightly over 7,000. They were recently absorbed by counties after the national government released Sh7.7 billion, following initial resistance by county governments to take them in.

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The workers said their demand for permanent and pensionable terms follows President William Ruto’s directive in Mombasa on September 19, during the unveiling of the new Social Health Authority (SHA) cover targeting 2.2 million vulnerable Kenyans, where he urged county governments to absorb all UHC workers on permanent and pensionable terms.

On gratuity, the workers said they were receiving half of their salaries before absorption and had been working on contract for a long time.

“We have not been given any gratuity because we were in the middle of a financial crisis. During that period, we were receiving 31 percent of our gross salary,” said Wafula.

He added, “So, we would like them to give us gratuity because we have been working for five years and are now going into our sixth year.”

In a press statement on September 1, the Council of Governors (CoG) demanded that the national government pay gratuities amounting to Sh9.4 billion to UHC workers before their transition or absorption.

According to Patrick Sitati, another representative of the workers, they have given the Ministry three Thursdays to act on their demands.

“That means this Thursday and the remaining Thursdays of this month. If this month ends without action, we will go to the streets across the country, and we will not be afraid,” said Sitati.

He added, “We have been protesting for seven months, and we will not be afraid to go home. If the minister has refused to change our payslips from contract to permanent and pensionable, they should pay us our gratuity, and we will go home. Simple.”

Shiro Kihara, one of the representatives of the UHC members, said they cannot be more patient than they have been for six years.

“If the government does not convert us to permanent and pensionable terms, then next year, the first group will go home in April, and the last group will go home in November,” she said.

Ms. Kihara blamed some counties, including Nyeri, Kiambu, and Kirinyaga, for dismissing some of their members for participating in strikes.

“Some of these counties have dismissed our members, and we are here to say that we are not going to take that lying down because it’s our constitutional right to protest,” said Ms. Kihara.

On gratuity, she said the Labour and Relations Court ruled that they are entitled to 31 percent gratuity.

“If Kenya is a country that respects the judicial arm of government, then it is high time it honours our demands,” she said.

She also raised concerns that community oral health officers (COHOs) are earning very low net salaries.

“When they harmonised our salaries, it saw the community oral health officers get Sh15,000 less than what we used to get. While everybody else got an increase in salary, the COHOs got a pay cut. Right now, they are taking home less than Sh30,000, which is a disgrace, to say the least,” said Ms. Kihara.

Meanwhile, cancer survivors, caregivers, and advocates under the Kenya Network of Cancer Organisations (KENCO) also protested at the MoH to push for an increase in oncology allocation under the SHA.

They said the current Sh500,000 cover, in addition to the emergency, chronic, and critical illness fund of Sh150,000 per household, is too little considering the high cost of cancer treatment.

“This is because most patients spend millions on treatment, yet they are only allocated Sh500,000. We are asking the government to increase it,” said Priscah Githuka, KENCO vice chairperson.

She added, “Patients are dying because once the cover is exhausted, they abandon treatment, and many end up dying at home.”

Ms. Githuka also called for an increase in health funding from the current 3 percent to at least 15 percent, in line with the Abuja Declaration.

“If the government increases allocation to at least 7 percent, we will be able to address pressing health challenges such as lack of medicine and broken radiotherapy machines, which force patients to seek services in private facilities,” she said.