The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) yesterday started the process of recruiting 378 employees under the new leadership.

An advertisement on the agency’s website invited applications for the positions of directors and deputy directors of various sections while other posts will be advertised in the course of the week. 

Former staff who were declared redundant last year were also asked to reapply. The 378 positions are to be distributed in the office of the chief executive officer (5), corporation secretary and legal services directorate (5). Others are health products and technologies directorate (206), supply chain management directorate (32), customer service (31), partnership and resource mobilisation (8), strategy and planning (14), corporate services (65) and internal audit (11).

It will be the final recruitment after the first phase saw over 300 workers retrenched and asked to reapply. The agency had a total workforce of 922, both permanent and pensionable.

The recruitment process has, however, raised concerns, with the affected workers questioning the hiring of the firm that is conducting the exercise. A source at the agency said under the government guidelines, recruitment of staff is done by Public Service Commission (PSC).

Instead, the agency acted on the advisory given by the State Corporations Advisory Committee. “The role of SCAC is simply advisory while the PSC plays the role of recruitment. We are yet to be told why this aspect was overlooked,” said our source.

The agency has since hired the services of JKUAT Enterprises Limited to offer consultancy services regarding the recruitment of various technical and professional positions.

Issues have also been raised as to why the management, under CEO Terry Ramadhani (pictured), acted on the recommendations of the former board which was declared null and void by the High Court.

Interestingly, Ramadhani was a member of the former board. She said the move is aimed at controlling the inflated wage bill — in the wake of the Covid-19 scandal that hit the agency two years ago.

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu also waded into the debate, saying in her report that Kemsa had 912 employees against an approved number of 341 in the year ended June 2020.

Affected staff members who spoke to ‘People Daily’ vowed to resist the move, saying they would not to sign the redundancy letters.