The US government-funded AMPATH Uzima project has now sent all its staff on unpaid leave following President Donald
Trump’s suspension of funding.
The AMPATH which is based at the Moi Referral Hospital in Eldoret project has been supporting thousands of HIV AIDS patients.
The project has between 2,000 and 5,000 permanent and casual workers at the main offices in Eldoret and other regional sites most within counties in Rift Valley, Nyanza and Western regions.
A letter dated January 31 and signed by the USAID AMPATH Uzima Chief of Party Sylvester Kimaiyo has directed the staff to proceed on leave starting February 1, 2025.
Kimaiyo said the move was in reference to the Notice of Implementation of Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid letter dated January 24, 2025.
“To comply with the directive all staff are requested to proceed for unpaid leave with effect from January 1, 2025,” he said.
During the period, the employees are requested to remain accessible via email or phone for any urgent communication from the management.
“Further updates regarding the resumption of work or other instructions will be communicated as soon as possible,” the letter says.
Kimaiyo said the measure was being taken to align with the executive order.
“We sincerely appreciate your cooperation and understanding during this period,” the letter says.
Trump’s move will cut millions of shillings that were being channelled to AMPATH to support the patients.
National Treasury CS John Mbadi has said the development budget will be slashed to finance programmes affected by the US freeze on foreign aid.
Mbadi told journalists in Naivasha that should US President Donald Trump make good his directive to freeze foreign aid to various programmes in Kenya, the country will revert to domestic financing.
"We will have no alternative but to slash part of the development budget and use the funds to finance critical programmes that will be starved of cash if the US stops foreign aid," Mbadi said.
He added: "There is no cause for alarm as I have started to put measures in place to ensure that health programmes that depended heavily on foreign aid are not paralysed."
He noted that health programmes such as the fight against HIV/Aids were critical to saving lives and the government will provide funding to ensure their continuity.
The CS however pointed out that the government was still awaiting official communication from America on freezing of the foreign aid.
