No cause for alarm, Kemsa says after sending home 29 managers

The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) has come out to allay any fears of disruption of services at the state agency after it sent 29 senior managers on leave last week.

Kemsa Board chairperson Mary Mwadime said the board has already mapped out all affected functions with competent officers appointed to handle the roles in an acting capacity.

According to Ms Mwadime, the interim officers, who will be working under acting chief executive officer John Kabuchi, will ensure business continuity as the substantive officers are away on leave.

“The appointment of the interim officers is geared at ensuring smooth management functions transition as the substantive officers are away on leave while ensuring business continuity,” said Ms Mwadime, in a statement.

On Friday, Kemsa sent some 29 senior managers on a 45-day compulsory leave even as it emerged that some of senior officers were forced to sign the leave forms.

The action by the board comes just 10 days to a February 24 court ruling, on a case challenging intended sacking of over 900 Kemsa staff following the Sh7.8 billion scandal involving purchase of items for use during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, Ms Mwadime defended the move saying the board remains cognisant and continues to respect the legal processes currently underway and does not intend to pre-empt the outcomes of the matter.

“Nonetheless, the smooth running of Kemsa, as a critical infrastructure and medical supply chain agency, remains an essential priority for the government,” she said.

On November 4, 2021, the Kemsa board issued redundancy letters to all employees and sent the staff on compulsory leave for 30 days.

Before the lapse of the leave days on December 4, staff moved to court and obtained stay orders, which forced the board to send all employees on another 45-day leave.

The chairperson, however, maintained that sending the senior officers on leave is part of transformation journey of the troubled agency where all directors and senior managers, among other staff members, with pending leave days, have been asked to proceed on leave as part of the human resource management strategy to reduce the leave days liability.

She added that all officers with pending leave days have been alerted and asked to proceed on leave to reduce the liability, which reflects on the organisational balance sheet.

“It is instructive to note that the transformation journey can be derailed by the continued accumulation of leave days. As mentioned above, Kemsa board has not fired a single employee,” she stated.

Asking the public not to read too much into the new development, Ms Mwadime pointed out that Kemsa has been undertaking a transformation programme to fine-tune the organisation to current market demands.

The process, she said, kicked off late last year and has seen all staff members requested to work from home.

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