The main gate of the Baringo County Referral Hospital in Kabarnet.
For eight years, Ms Sheila Chelagat has reported to Baringo County Referral Hospital to care for patients, working alongside permanently employed nurses and performing the same duties.
To many people in her village, she is a successful healthcare worker with a stable government job.
But the reality is starkly different. Despite the eight years of service, the 38-year-old mother of three still has no permanent job. She remains a casual employee, struggling to make ends meet and uncertain about her future.
“People in the village refer to me as a nurse and assume I have a stable job. But behind the curtains, I am suffering. I am unable to even pay school fees for my daughter who is currently in Form Three,” she told the Daily Nation.
Her story reflects the plight of dozens of nurses at Baringo County Referral Hospital who have spent years volunteering or working on temporary contracts, only to be overlooked whenever opportunities for permanent employment arise.
For Ms Chelagat, the struggle began in 2018 when she reported to the hospital seeking employment, four years after graduating from a medical training college.
She was informed there were no vacancies but was encouraged to volunteer, with assurances that she would be prioritised when positions became available.
She spent two years working as a volunteer before securing a one-year contract in 2020 after the county government advertised healthcare positions. The appointment gave her hope.
She was issued with a personal number and believed her years of sacrifice had finally been recognised. But the contract expired after one year and was not renewed.
Since then, she has continued working under casual arrangements at the same facility where she once volunteered.
The main gate of the Baringo County Referral Hospital in Kabarnet.
According to Ms Chelagat, she has attended three recruitment interviews since then, including the county government's most recent hiring exercise, but has never secured permanent employment.
“This year, I attended another interview following a job advertisement by the county government, but once again I was not considered,” she said.
“What pains me most is seeing people who completed their studies as recently as 2023 securing employment while those of us who have volunteered and worked here for years remain jobless. We want the county government to explain the criteria used in recruitment because it appears that volunteers who have faithfully served are being overlooked,” she said.
The frustrations of nurses like Ms Chelagat boiled over on Thursday when more than 50 volunteer and contract nurses staged demonstrations and marched to Governor Benjamin Cheboi's office seeking answers over delayed salaries and recent recruitment.
The health workers questioned why none of them had been successful in the county's latest recruitment exercise despite years of service in county health facilities.
Read: No cash, no ambulance: Dispute over Governor Cheboi pledge exposes cracks in Baringo health system
They argued that their experience and commitment should have earned them priority consideration whenever vacancies arose.
Nurse Mercy Kimeli, a nursing officer at the facility, said many long-serving nurses had attended the interviews but were unsuccessful.
“We need to know who the county government hired because none of us who have been working here for years were considered. We also want to know the criteria that were used because we feel shortchanged,” she said.
“To make matters worse, we have not received our salaries for more than three months and no explanation has been given by the county government,” she stated.
The nurses say the county's health facilities heavily depend on volunteers and contract workers.
According to Ms Kimeli, the maternity department has only three nurses employed on permanent and pensionable terms, while more than 20 others serve on contract.
Mr Collins Kiyai, a representative of contract nurses, said the hospital currently has more than 42 nurses on contract and another 10 serving as volunteers.
A section of the outpatient section at the Baringo County Referral Hospital in Kabarnet.
“Most of us have worked at this facility for years, yet we continue to face challenges ranging from delayed payments to the lack of absorption into permanent employment,” he said.
“As we speak, we have not received our salaries for the last three months. Some of our colleagues have children who depend on them for school fees and other basic necessities,” he stated.
Mr Kiyai also questioned why statutory deductions allegedly made from employees' salaries had not been remitted to the relevant social insurance agency.
“If these deductions are being made from our pay, why are they not being remitted? Some volunteers have worked for more than a year without receiving any payment,” he said.
He further claimed that none of the 17 nurses recently recruited by the county government had previously served as volunteers or contract staff at the facility.
“Some of those hired graduated as recently as 2023, while many of us with years of experience were overlooked. We are asking the county government to explain the criteria used in the recruitment process,” he said.
Questions over recruitment
The nurses' grievances have revived concerns about recruitment practices within Baringo County's public service.
Last year, a County Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on Public Services led by MCAs Jeruto Kiptala and Sharon Keter questioned alleged unfair recruitment practices, claiming some long-serving workers had been overlooked in favour of individuals with close ties to senior county officials.
The committee also raised concerns over delayed salary payments affecting hundreds of casual and contract workers and pledged to push for reforms aimed at ensuring fairness, transparency and merit-based recruitment.
In response to the nurses’ grievances, Baringo County Executive Committee (CEC) Member for Health, Solomon Sirma, said the devolved unit relies on revenue collected from health facilities to pay casual health workers, adding that delays in remittances directly affect salary payments.
“We rely on revenue from the Social Health Authority (SHA) to pay the health workers serving as casuals, and when the remittance is delayed, then their monthly dues are also delayed,” he said.
He further stated that the county government plans to pay the nurses one month’s salary immediately, with the remaining arrears to be cleared next month.
On the issue of recruitment, Dr Sirma said the county health department usually recommends casual and volunteer health workers for consideration by the County Public Service Board, but noted that the final decision lies elsewhere.
“We usually propose those who have worked in our facilities to be considered as first priority during employment, but if they have not been recruited by the Public Service Board, then it is beyond us,” he added.
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