The Health Principal Secretary (PS) Mary Muthoni Muriuki has responded to the allegations of unpaid salaries and allowances for medical interns who completed their internship program in July 2023.
In a statement seen by cnyakundi.com on Monday, September 4, 2023, the PS said that the issue was caused by a system configuration error in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD) system, which is managed by the State Department for Public Service.
PS Muthoni explained that the IPPD system failed to target some of the allowances unique to health workers, such as Health Risk Allowance, when the payroll for the State Department for Public Health was run for the first time in July 2023.
She added that the error was corrected in August 2023 and all the interns who were still in the payroll system were paid their salaries in full, together with the July 2023 allowances that had not been carried.
However, she acknowledged that there was a group of interns numbering approximately 600 whose internship ended in July 2023 and could not have been in the August IPPD system.
She said that their unpaid July arrears had been processed by voucher and would be paid soon.
The PS also noted that she had instructed her team to be more aggressive in communicating with the aggrieved interns so as to avoid unnecessary panic and misinformation.
She further urged the public to verify any information they receive from social media platforms before spreading it further.
“All the interns were paid less a number of eligible allowances in the month of July 2023 due to IPPD system configuration issues.
We did correct all that and now all interns who were on the August payroll were paid their salaries in full together with the July 2023 allowances which had not been carried.
However, there is a group of interns numbering approximately 600 whose internship ended in July and could not have been in the August IPPD system.
We have processed their unpaid July arrears by voucher.
The IPPD system is managed by the State Department for Public Service officers based at KICC 16th Floor.
A number of allowances unique to health workers e.g. Health Risk Allowance, were inadvertently not targeted by IPPD Administrators at the State Department for Public Service in July when our payroll was run for the first time.
All the eligible allowances have now been properly targeted.
You may ask who are these administrators.
The State Department for Public Health is new and hence runs its payroll in July for the first time.
The government is interlinked in many areas and we may blame a ministry or department for something that is purely done by the sister departments.
What I have done on this is to ask my team to be more aggressive in communicating with the aggrieved so that we don’t cause unnecessary panic.
I hope that helps,” the statement by PS Muthoni stated in regard to the concerns of the interns.
PS Muthoni was responding to a story that was shared by an anonymous medical officer who claimed to have completed his internship program in July 2023 and had not received his full salary and allowances.
The medical officer also alleged that some people at Afya House had pocketed the money meant for the interns and that this was a rot that had been going on for years.
“I feel betrayed and frustrated by the Ministry of Health.
We have worked hard for six years to become doctors and we deserve to be paid our dues.
This is not fair and it is not right,” said the anonymous medical officer, who shared his payslips as evidence of the discrepancy.
He said that he had contacted the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) for help, but he had not received any satisfactory response.
He appealed to the media and the public to help expose the rot at Afya House and hold those responsible accountable.
However, PS Muthoni has defended her department and said that they were working hard to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
She has also denied any involvement of any cartels or corruption at Afya House and said that it was a technical glitch that affected all MOH workers, not just interns.
This response from PS Muthoni provides clarity on the salary issues faced by the interns and suggests that steps have been taken to rectify the situation and prevent future occurrences.
The interns, along with the public, will be closely monitoring to ensure that the promised actions are indeed implemented.
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