The High Court on Tuesday suspended the nurses' strike that started on Monday in several counties.
The move came after the Council of Governors (CoG) sought an injunction to warrant negotiations between parties of the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) and their employers, the county governments.
CoG issued a statement signed by Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya on Tuesday to confirm the outcome.
The statement challenged the legitimacy of the strike organised by the union of nurses.
In part, the statement read, “The court has today suspended the strike for a period of 60 days and has ordered both parties to attend the conciliation process initiated by Labour CS Ukur Yattani. Thereafter, the parties will be required to file a report in Court.”
A few hours before, the nurses union had ruled out possibilities of engagements on conciliatory talks to end the strike.
Through Secretary-General Seth Panyako, KNUN had indicated, “As a union, we are not going to engage in any further talks on issues touching on nursing service allowance and uniform allowance.”
Panyako was addressing the press in Nairobi on Tuesday when he made the assertions. He nonetheless indicated that there was a possibility of negotiations at the national level.
So far, nurses in the counties of West Pokot, Trans Nzoia, Kisumu, Nairobi, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kisii, Nyeri, Taita Taveta, Nyandarua, Wajir, and Kitui had already downed their tools.
The medical practitioners in other counties were expected to follow suit in the days to come.
Among the nurses’ demands is an increase of Ksh 5,000 in uniform allowances, Ksh 3,000 in nursing services allowance and offers of promotion for the deserving nurses that have worked for more than 10 years in the same job group.
This comes as a relief to many patients around the country who had been discharged from public hospitals since the nurses were absent.
The secretary-general also indicated, “We are willing and ready to engage in conciliation with the ministry and representatives from the two arms of government only to discuss the completion of CBA, grading structure and harmonization of salaries of our members.”
