Public health officers and laboratory professionals through The Kenya Environmental Health and Public Health Practitioners union (KEHPHPU) and Kenya Union Medical Laboratory Officers (KNUMO), have threatened to strike over what they term as a rushed and irregular process in the establishment of the Kenya National Public Health Institute (KNPHI).
Speaking at a joint press briefing, Brown Ashira, the National Secretary General and CEO of KEHPHPU, registered his organizations’ concerns over the hurried nature of KNPHI’s establishment and the disregard of key legal framework by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
“We would like to address the Ministry of Health and Public service commission (PSC) regarding the unprofessional, un-procedural rush in creation, formulization and operationalization of KNPHI without stakeholder engagement and in total disregard of Articles 118 and 196 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, as well as Article 10(2) on national values and principles of governance. It also violates provisions in the Human Resource Policies, the Employment Act, the Public Service Commission Act, and the Labor Relations Act.” He said.
The establishment of KNPHI was done by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on the 22nd of April 2025, through a directive from the Cabinet Secretary Hon Aden Duale.The directive instructed principal secretaries of the State Department for Medical Services and the State Department for Public Health and Professional Standards to transition select public health and laboratory functions to KNPHI.
“The directive by the CS, was done without a proper and clear legal framework and without securing our members’ benefits or job security.”
Ashira emphasized that the organization has no objection to the government’s decision to form the Institute; however, their point of contention is that public health and laboratory officers who are the main implementers of the Institute’s functions have been sidelined in leadership and governance structures.
“The creation and formation of KNHPI without the involvement of critical implementing players is deeply concerning. If you examine the functions of the Kenya National Public Health Institute, over 90 per cent are purely related to public health and laboratory work, with less than 5 per cent falling under curative services and yet the leadership and governance structures have been established without the inclusion of key implementing cadres, showing a clear bias towards clinical cadres and a complete disregard for the true mandate of the Institute.”
Echoing these sentiments, Nicholas Odipo chairperson of The Kenya National Union of Medical Laboratory Officers noted that the fast tracked nature in which the institute was formed was worrying.
“We want to make it very clear, we are not opposing the formation of KNPHI. But the manner in which it is being hurriedly formed raises a lot of eyebrows. ”Odipo stated.
He warned that transitioning all laboratories to KNPHI without proper structures could dismantle and cripple national disease management system.
“Transferring all the laboratory departments to an institute is going to kill the practice of medical laboratory in this country as National laboratories are critical for specialized disease surveillance like the handling HIV, TB, and malaria reference tests for counties cannot be effectively managed without a strong national framework.”
The Unions called for Hon Duale to reconsider engaging in tripartite negotiations, and nurture KNPHI appropriately by involving all healthcare professionals.
The unions presented a series of demands to the Ministry of Health. They called for the leadership of the Kenya National Public Health Institute to include a balanced representation of key implementing cadres, specifically public health officers and medical laboratory technicians.
They also emphasized that the board members of the Institute should also reflect both public health officers and Medical laboratory technicians for fairness and inclusivity. On human resource management, the unions urged that KNPHI should recruit its own officers through an open and competitive process, rather than simply transitioning existing ministry staff and public health assets into the new Institute.
The unions issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Ministry of Health to address their concerns.
“If our demands are not met in the next seven days we are going to disrupt services by calling all our members to the streets as well as seek legal redress on the same.”
