A Mombasa doctor, Abi Mwachi, was raided at night by individuals he alleged were sent by officials working at the Mombasa County Government to harass and frustrate him on Thursday night, December 10.
In a video shared by the Kenya Media Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), the doctor claimed that he was being inspected for the second time in a row.
The incident, he said, was connected to the strike threats issued by medics in Mombasa. The doctors and the County Government led by Governor Ali Hassan Joho have been on a standoff over the return to work formula, salaries and work conditions.
"I am being inspected at night for the second time and it's by people in the county government that is headed by Joho. Mgomo utaendelea (The strike will go on as planned)," Mwachi, KMPDU's Mombasa branch secretary lamented.
The union also condemned the incident stating that harassing and intimidating KMPDU leaders for failure to implement return to work formulas is a violation of labour and human rights. It added that it would hold the county government responsible for any harmful act on their officials.
Mombasa County Government communication officials did not respond to the allegations or to the strike threats issued by the doctor. Hamadi Juma, a doctor in Mombasa, stated that KMPDU has been unable to get feedback on various crucial issues since signing the Return-To-Work-Formula between the union and Joho's government on October 2, 2020.
He stated that common establishment (general practitioners/ doctors) promotions have not been effected since 2016. The Department of Health/ Medical services has not done the costing, and the Department of Finance and Planning has not allocated the funds.
Specialist doctors promotions and arrears since 2016 have not been effected and the county had not consolidated data provided by KMPDU on the promotion of doctors.
"During this entire time, union members worked diligently in all county facilities, tirelessly to provide the best available healthcare to the public despite the government’s repeated failures to uphold numerous clauses in the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement and this current Return to Work Formula.
"The county has now begun victimising doctors by forcing unpaid doctors, nurses and clinical officers to work with arbitrary departmental transfers and discriminatory assignment of duties," he stated.
KMPDU Deputy Secretary-General Chibanzi Mwachonda is leading a negotiation between doctors, the Ministry of Health, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) and the Treasury. The doctors had threatened to go a nationwide strike over poor working conditions.
Watch the video
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