The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) has so far paid millions of shilling to over 300 staff that were told to work from home' after the COVID-19 scandal.
Documents seen by the Star show that some 350 employees whom the state sent away from the office 'to work from home' continued to earn full salaries.
The purge was executed in November 2021 as the state moved to restore sanity at the medical supplies agency.
Then, the employees were told to work from home as casuals took over their jobs including those who were seconded from other state agencies.
The documents show that while those who were at home continued to earn, those who replaced them drew huge salaries and allowances even after the expiry of their contract terms.
For the 19 months they were sent home following the Sh7.8 billion meant for Covid-19, the staff earned Sh45 million monthly, translating to Sh855 million.
It was not until April 14 when the Health Ministry wrote to suspend Kemsa Chief Executive Officer Terry Ramadhani on April 14, raising the red flag on the employment anomalies.
"Kemsa's staff establishment as per the approved instruments stands at 378 against an in-post of 910 employees. Before the review of the HR instruments, the authority had an approved staff establishment of 348," said immediate former Principal Secretary for Medical Services Peter Tum.
Tum was on Tuesday moved to the Sports Department of Sports.
This shows that after 2021, the staffing at Kemsa had jumped from 378 to 910 comprising seconded employees from other government agencies.
Tum in April instructed the Kemsa CEO to recall all employees and those on contract that were working from home.
They had been locked out of their offices in a 2021 executive order.
However, it emerged that employees working from home had taken Kemsa to court.
On his part, Tum addressed himself to the bloated workforce, unchecked recruitment and about specific projects but "were re-engaged and continued to draw salaries even after the project had expired".
"Several. Kemsa officers are working from home for over a year. There is a caretaker team drawn from wider public service performing the duties of the officers who are working from home. Kemsa also recruited officers on short-term con-to perform duties of the officers working tracts from home," Tum wrote.
He was responding to a letter by the CEO seeking concurrence of the ministry to implement a voluntary early retirement for the hundreds of employees working from home.
"Recall all the officers who are working from home. Fasttrack the exit of employees of the authority serving on contract in accordance with the existing legal framework. This will address the problem of a bloated workforce," he directed.
He also directed her to release the caretaker team and those on secondment to their respective employees.
"Kemsa should negotiate with the officers who are in court for a possible out-of-court settlement. Undertake comprehensive business re-engineering to address some of the systemic challenges facing the authority," he urged.
On Monday, Ramadhani was suspended alongside eight other officers. This followed a botched Global Fund tender.
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