Win for 500 casual workers as court orders Trans Nzoia to employ them on permanent terms

By  Evans Jaola

Contributor

NTV

More than 500 casual workers at the Trans Nzoia County government have finally secured justice after a two-year battle to force the county government to grant them permanent and pensionable (P&P) terms.

Lady Justice Maureen Atieno Onyango of the Employment and Labour Relations Court ordered the county government to transition the long-serving workers from casual employment to permanent and pensionable terms within two months.

The ruling brings relief to workers who have served the county government for years without the security and benefits attached to permanent employment.

The workers had been pushing the county government to regularise their employment, but their demands remained unresolved, prompting the legal battle that has now culminated in a court directive.

The Kenya Government Workers Union Trans Nzoia Branch Secretary and National Vice Chairman Eliud Nabiimba welcomed the ruling, saying it vindicated the union’s sustained campaign for better employment terms.

“Today the court has handed us the right to say indeed they violated our rights. They violated the rights of our workers,” Nabiimba said.

He urged the county government and the affected workers to use the two-month window to ensure a smooth implementation of the court order.

Nabiimba said the union intends to challenge the court’s decision on compensation, particularly for workers approaching retirement who could lose financial benefits linked to their years of service.

“We are not comfortable with the prayer that we had made about compensation,” he said.

Kenya County Government Workers Union (KCGWU) Trans Nzoia Branch Chairperson Lennox Opicho said the ruling was significant because some of the affected employees had served for many years under casual arrangements dating back to the former local authorities.

He urged workers who are not union members to join organised labour, saying strength in numbers would give employees greater bargaining power.

“Union is numbers. If there are many, we will force the government to do more,” Opicho said.

Human rights activist Samuel Kiboi also welcomed the ruling and called on the county government and the Public Service Board to comply with the court’s directives.

"The county government must comply with the judgement by formalising the employment of the workers who have spent years working under casual terms," said Kiboi.

For the workers, the ruling marks a major turning point in a two-year fight for job security, pension rights and recognition of their long service to the county.

In March 2024, Governor George Natembeya received a report by a task force on the county's pending bills and human resources audit that revealed massive irregular recruitment of casual workers in the devolved unit.

The former Auditor-General Edward Ouko-led task force also gave recommendations, among them restructuring remuneration systems to ensure accountability of public resources.

According to the report, the county’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD) register showed that there were 3,113 staff, 106 in the manual register and 673 casuals, totalling 3,892 staff.

The report showed that a number of staff did not turn up for the staff audit called by the task force between September 19 and 22, 2022, and had neither made any efforts to reach the team hitherto.

It was hence established that 470 employees were ghost workers and received payment for not showing up to work, as they were never counted physically.

In the exercise, more than 400 other people showed up to claim that they were county employees, yet there were no records supporting the same.

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