Kenya National Union of Nurses acting secretary general Maurice Opetu
(centre), chairperson Joseph Gwasi (right) and Treasurer Agnes Munderu
(left) at their offices in Nairobi on June 2, 2017. PHOTO | DENNIS
ONSONGO | NMG
Summary
- Nurses cite frustration with non-implementation of the deal signed with both the national and county governments on May 26 this year.
- Union says nurses nationwide will not report to work until the CBA is signed and registered in court.
- Nurses have also accused county governors of sabotaging signing and registration of the deal.
Just two months after Kenyan doctors
agreed to end a painful 100-day strike, nurses are following suit with a
threat to paralyse the public health system with an industrial action
of their own.
Through their union, the Kenya National
Union of Nurses (KNUN), the care givers have threatened to go on strike
next Monday if the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) they had agreed
on with the government is not signed and registered in court.
Addressing
the media in Nairobi today, nurses cited frustration with the State's
non-implementation of the deal made with both the national and county
governments last month.
“It is very unfortunate,
painful but as nurses and the union, we are left with no option but to
take the position we have taken today. We are going to stop any dialogue
and go on strike. We want to tell the nurses to stay away from their
working places come Monday," Acting KNUN secretary general Maurice Opetu
said Friday.
The union says nurses nationwide will not report to work until the CBA is signed and registered in court.
“Between
now and Monday, if the deal is not signed the nurses are not going to
report on duty on June 5. We are going to down our tools at midnight on
Sunday. They will not report on duty and that is our position,” said Mr
Opetu.
The union further accused county bosses -
through the Council of Governors (CoG) - of sabotaging signing and
registration of the deal and taking lives of Kenyans and nurses' plight
for granted by going on with their campaigns.
“The CBA has been concluded but the Council of
Governors is playing games to obstruct the signing of the agreement. We
had agreed that the signing of the deal would be on June 2 and until
Wednesday when we went to find out how far we were, they had not
forwarded even a single minute we had agreed upon to the Salaries and
Revenue Commission (SRC),” said Joseph Ngwasi, the union's acting
national chairman.
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