NAIROBI: The Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU) has called for the suspension of new NHIF premiums and now demanding that all the monies that have been irregularly deducted from workers be refunded. PUSETU secretary general Charles Mukhwaya said KUSU support calls by affiliate unions within Trade Unions Congress of Kenya (TUC-K) to resort to industrial action if the demand is not met.
“It is heartless for a government on one hand to freeze salary review for hapless workers and on the other hand impose through Kenya gazette increased taxation in the name of NHIF on their poor pay.
The new deductions have severely reduced workers’ take home to fall below the statutory one third and rendered them destitute,” said Mukhwaya. Addressing members of the press in Nairobi, the secretary general said NHIF acted in bad faith by failing to consult them saying the board unilaterally decided to gazette the new rates. “We are stakeholders and we have a say in that matter.
We were not consulted and if the government will continue to deduct our salaries, we will move out to demand for our rights. We have given government two weeks to respond.
We are also seeking legal redress and we have instructed our lawyers to go ahead with the case and if the court ruling will not favor us, we will resort to other ways including joining the Trade Union Congress for a strike,” he added.
KUSU National organizing secretary Ernest Wayaya said the NHIF board did not explain the fate of existing medical schemes that workers belong to or assure contributors that their hard earned cash will not be misappropriated.
“ NHIF has been involved in scandalous projects in the past and no one has given out an assurance that the cash will not be misappropriated. The board has also published names of appointed health facilities without prior consultation,” said Wayaya. He pointed out that majority of the health facilities have no capacity to offer commensurate medical services.
“It is ironical that while the workers money is being deducted, the medical benefits they are paying for are not feasible as yet,” he concluded.
