The National Treasury has approved Sh810m for payment of the six-month salary arrears of employees of the Postal Corporation of Kenya (Posta).
The decision came after the workers petitioned Parliament following the state corporation’s failure to pay them since March, when the Covid-19 pandemic was reported in the country.
Treasury Principal Secretary Esther Koimett on Tuesday told Parliament’s Labour committee that the ministry had allocated the amount to the corporation.
Ms Koimett said the Treasury did so after the ICT ministry wrote to it early in September, asking it to inject funds for payment of salaries.
“The ministry (ICT) wrote to the Treasury seeking the funds as a short term solution. The Sh810 million will be used to settle salary arrears for the last six months,” she said.
Looming restructuring
The corporation has not paid its over 2,000 employees since March and says it made almost nothing in revenue due to the pandemic.
“PCK gets cash from its operations, not from Treasury budgets. The corporation plans its own budget,” ICT CS Joe Mucheru told the committee.
“When Covid-19 came and international flights were halted, its revenues went down to almost zero, so it could not pay workers.”
The bailout from the Treasury comes as the two ministries insist the corporation cannot continue to operate as a loss-making venture and that it must be restructured.
