More than 20 senior managers at the troubled Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) were sent on 45 days of compulsory leave after a meeting held by the Board of Management.
The managers were sent packing two weeks before 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.
Kemsa acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) John Kabuchi, in a notice, directed the managers to fill out leave forms by Friday and submit them to his office.
“Following the meeting held with the board earlier today, you are hereby notified that the completed forms should be dropped in CEOs office by the close of business on February 10. Those yet to collect their leave forms should collect their forms from the office as well,” the managers were directed.
Immediately, the board appointed other members of the staff to hold the senior positions on a temporary basis.
Operations at the medical supplies firm have now been taken over by 10 officers from the Ministry of Health, six from the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), two representatives from the ICT Authority and one representative from the Attorney General’s office.
However, the managers lamented over the decision to kick them out of office, accusing the board of indirectly firing them.
Mary Mwandime explained that they were only restructuring the company adding that the managers sent home had pending leave days.
“All directors and senior managers among other staff members with pending leave days have been asked to process on leave as part of the Human Resource strategy to reduce the leave days’ liability,” she stated.
The board chairperson also refuted claims that the compulsory leave was informed by three court cases filed to stop the takeover of the state corporation by officials from the National Youth Service (NYS) and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
Confirming the developments, lawyer Nelson Havi termed the actions by the board as “disobedience of a court order and impunity” on the part of Health CS Mutahi Kagwe.
“There is a court order stopping the intended declaration of redundancy. That notwithstanding, these notices that have been issued to senior management are a clear indication of intention to terminate their services despite the fact that the matter is in court,” said Havi.
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.
In January, the hearings were done and the judge was set to issue a ruling in two weeks.
