Health unions now want Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha to withdraw all the appointments made on Wednesday over what they termed as lack of an open, transparent and competitive process.
The Kenya National Union of Nurses, the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers, the Kenya Health Professional Society and the Kenya Union of Biomedical Engineers of Kenya want the positions advertised and filled competitively.
This, they said, should be done by a team that acknowledges and represents the diversity within the health sector and all key stakeholders should be engaged and involved in making the appointments.
“Please note that this should be addressed within the next seven days failure to which we shall take unspecified action without further notice to you,” they said in a joint statement.
“The exclusive appointments shocked most of us, who had expectations that the new and diverse leadership would finally reform the ministry for the better.”
They noted that despite Kenya Kwanza having prioritized primary healthcare in its plan to achieve UHC, the appointments are a sharp contrast to the plan since the professionals at the centre of primary health have been excluded from the decision and policy-making table.
On Wednesday, the CS reorganised the Ministry of Health, purging many of former CS Mutahi Kagwe’s appointees away from Afya House.
She also named five directorates, each with several divisions under it. About 54 top heads were affected.
Wafula retained Patrick Amoth as director general of health, a position he has held in an acting capacity since 2019.
