The Nakuru County government has assured that about 150 ‘special programme’ nurses working in all parts of the county will be absorbed as full-time employees.
The nurses were hired three years ago under President Mwai Kibaki coalition government's Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP).
Nakuru County’s finance chief officer Parsaloi Torome said: “The nurses should stop worrying as plans are underway to have them on the county’s payroll. We can assure them that they will be paid their salaries from July.”
Under the ESP, the nurses were hired as interns but following their recent complaints, their cases have been reviewed favourably.
About 40 of the nurses spent last week seeking audience with Governor Kinuthia Mbugua and the Nakuru County assembly’s top leadership. This was after they unsuccessfully sought to see the health chief officer, Dr Samuel Mwaura, who was reportedly in the field most of the day.
Their representatives from the Kenya Nurses Union, who did not want to be named, said they had forwarded letters to both arms of the county government. The nurses argued that while many county governments had complied, the Nakuru County government had not displayed any such assurance regarding their jobs.