Civil servants want NHIF to refund ‘irregular’ deductions

The Trade Union Congress of Kenya (TUC-Ke) has called for the refund of all irregular deductions made by the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) since April 1st.

The union has also called for the revocation of the gazette notice and pegging of “the levy at a percentage of one’s basic pay or income.”

In a statement signed by the union’s national chairman Tom Odenga and General Secretary Wilson Sossion, TUC-Ke said the new rates were implemented without proper consultation between involved stakeholders.

The union stated that they had agreed on a number of recommendations including composition of the NHIF board and exemption of workers that have existing health schemes noting that the new rates were gazetted without their consent.

TUC-Ke further demanded that the government initiate amendment of referred Act to accommodate equitable representation in the NHIF board, exemption of contributions that belong to other or superior medical scheme.

They further threatened to down tools starting midnight should the government fail to review the rates.