More than 400 workers at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) took home less than a third of their salaries in the financial year to June 2025, after deductions consumed the bulk of their pay.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu revealed that 410 affected workers each lost more than two-thirds of their earnings to deductions, leaving them with less than a third of a combined basic salary of Sh38.2 million, in breach of the law.
The Employment Act of 2007 prohibits employers from deducting more than two-thirds of the basic pay of an employee to safeguard their rightful gains from employment.
“In the circumstances, management was in breach of the law,” Ms Gathungu said in her report for the year ending June 30, 2025.
The audit does not specify which departments or staff groups were affected, nor does it detail the nature of the deductions. However, these findings come against a backdrop of ongoing payroll issues at the country’s largest referral hospital.
A growing number of salaried workers with pre-existing loan repayment obligations have, in the past five years, seen their take-home pay shrink past the legally recommended level due to the effects of the financial mess triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and later enhanced deductions towards the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), and the Affordable Housing Levy.
Salaried workers have seen a jump in NSSF contributions from Sh200 to highs of up to Sh6480, and a 1.5 percent housing levy deduction on gross pay, as well as a mandatory contribution of 2.75percent of an employee's gross monthly salary, has significantly cut their take-home pay.
KNH has faced repeated labour disputes tied to its wage bill.
In 2020, around 5,000 staff, including nurses, doctors, and support workers, went on strike over the non-payment of salary increments and allowances totalling Sh601 million arising from a 2012 reclassification.
Although the arrears had been approved, they had not been paid, prompting industrial action that was later resolved through a payment plan.
Despite these interventions, the hospital continues to struggle with payroll management. KNH’s total wage bill for the financial year under review was Sh14.9 billion.
