A section of government employees have been forced into a crisis after they were evicted from their residential quarters.
The Kisii County Government on the morning of Saturday, February 13 evicted nurses from their houses in staff quarters at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital.
The exercise was overseen by officials of the local health ministry despite claims that it was illegal since protocol for eviction was not observed by the Ministry of Health.
Kenya Union of Nurses in Kisii has expressed a strong disagreement with this action with the court requesting that their issues be resolved outside court.
The county government of Kisii has been called out for failure to attend a dialogue meeting. The nurses are said to have been refusing to go to work and attend to their duties.
They are also accused of not responding to their show-cause letter and were asked to report to the disciplinary committee.
According to the victims of eviction, police officers and security officers from the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital served the nurses with letters saying that they should leave the houses. The letters are said to have originated from the Chief Officer of Health in Kisii.
The nurses termed this as unlawful, since an eviction notice was not given to them in time.
Hon. Justice Stephen Radido had ordered the Kenya National Union of Nurses and Kisii County Public Services Board to attempt out of court settlement and file an agreement before the next mention of the matter on February 18, 2021.
In another incident involving nurses, Taita Taveta county sent home over 400 workers on February 3, 2021, for boycotting work. The County Secretary Leverson Mghendi said that the health workers had failed to fulfill their duties without any valid reason.
Mghendi said that the nurses and clinical officers claimed that they had the right to take part in the nationwide strike, which had been called off.
He argued that the health workers had been ordered to resume their duties, citing the Employment and Labour Court ruling of December 16, which the health workers did not heed to.
Another 500 health workers were sacked in Taita Taveta on January 12, under similar circumstances.
