Health CS Aden Duale: UHC workers to get permanent jobs from July
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale addresses the media at the Ministry of Health headquarters in Nairobi, on April 10, 2025.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has announced that Universal Health Coverage (UHC) workers’ contracts will be changed into permanent and pensionable employment terms starting July, in the 2026/2027 financial year.
The announcement came as UHC workers converged at Afya House on Tuesday to demand fulfilment of long-standing promises.
They spent six years in limbo, marked by shifting contracts, unpaid gratuities and a bureaucratic tug-of-war between the national and county governments. However, Mr Duale said progress had been made following a presidential directive issued four months ago, dismissing the protesters’ claims.
He said the national government had already transitioned UHC workers from low pay to Salaries and Remuneration Commission approved terms following a Cabinet decision.
The CS revealed that a resolution was made during the 12th National and County Government Coordinating Summit on December 10, 2025, and chaired by President William Ruto.
The resolution directed the Ministry of Health, the Public Service Commission, the Council of Governors, and the National Treasury to develop a framework for transitioning UHC workers to permanent and pensionable terms.
The process will be funded through the Division of Revenue Bill, with resources drawn from the counties' equitable share.
Ghost employees
Mr Duale further disclosed that on January 19, the Ministry of Health and the Council of Governors jointly wrote to the Commission on Revenue Allocation, requesting the inclusion of Sh8.9 billion in the Division of Revenue Bill 2026 to facilitate the transition.
A section of health workers employed under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programme protest outside the National Treasury Building in Nairobi on May 27, 2025.
"In the coming weeks, we will hold inter-agency meetings involving the National Treasury, Public Service Commission, Commission on Revenue Allocation, and the Controller of Budget to finalise this process," he said.
On verification, the CS said the government had confirmed about 7,000 genuine UHC workers and removed more than 200 ghost employees from the payroll. He attributed some irregular recruitments to the Covid-19 period, when unqualified individuals were hired but later failed verification for lack of required documents.
“Genuine UHC workers remain deployed in health facilities across the country and play a critical role in service delivery, particularly in remote areas. Once they are transitioned to permanent and pensionable terms, their gratuity will be channelled into pension schemes,” Mr Duale said.
The workers, hailed as heroes during the 2020 pandemic, took to the streets on Tuesday to demand fulfilment of promises made six years ago.
Dickens Nyaligu, a medical laboratory technologist from Kwale County, recounted the 'primitive terms' UHC workers have endured since being recruited at the height of the Covid-19 crisis. He described it as a demoralising environment where they worked alongside other healthcare staff who received higher pay and allowances for the same risks.
Sh9.2 billion
“We fought the pandemic, God came through, and we never lost the fight. Then came the fight between the Council of Governors and the Ministry of Health, which has left us in a state of professional homelessness,” Mr Nyaligu said.
“If you go to the Ministry of Health, they say we are employees of the county governments. If you go to the county governments, they say we are employees of the national government,” he explained.
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) workers protest outside the National Treasury Building in Nairobi on May 27, 2025.
Mr Nyaligu claimed that the Sh9.2 billion previously allocated by Parliament for their transition to permanent and pensionable contracts had been diverted to other projects.
Ms Silisisi Helen, also a medical laboratory technologist, argued that payment of gratuity and conversion of employment terms from contract to permanent and pensionable are matters of legal right.
“It is our right. The government must secure our jobs,” she said.
Their employment has followed a confusing pattern. What began as a three-year contract in 2020 was later reduced to one-year extensions, then two-year increments. The first group of contracts will expire in May 2026.
UHC representative Elias Mutai called on President Ruto and Health Ministry officials to 'walk the talk.' More than 7,500 healthcare workers are in a precarious position, he said, and their absence from hospitals to join protests has dire consequences.
“Every time we protest, we leave more than 1,500 patients at risk,” he warned.
The workers say they will no longer accept short-term contract renewals. They are demanding a clear timeline for absorption into permanent employment and immediate payment of gratuities, calculated at 30 percent of their basic salary since 2020.
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