President Uhuru Kenyatta has agreed to increase risk allowances for doctors in a bid to woo them to return to work.
A progress report on the ongoing mediation tabled in the Court of Appeal indicated that the increase was one of the major issues agreed upon in attempts to end the strike that is on its 93rd day.
According to the document compiled by among others the religious group, the amount would be backdated to October 2016.
The agreement was reached following the intervention of an inter-religious group that was last week allowed by the court to lead meditation talks into the ongoing strike.
The new increase is expected to raise the doctors' wage bill by an extra Sh4 Billion.
The report further noted that the deal had been agreed upon by all parties and that the government had also disbursed to the counties salaries for the months the doctors have been on strike.
The negotiation group highlighted that the only remaining part to end the industrial action was signing two additional documents by the counties and the doctors union officials.
“What remains is for the parties to agree on the modalities for the signing of the Return to Work Formula, the Recognition Agreement between the 47 counties and the Union officials and thereafter the signing of the Collective Bargaining Agreement,” part of the document states.
This brings an array of hope that the protracted strike could finally come to an end if all parties append their signatures on the new agreement.
This was the fourth time the controversial CBA was being discussed after earlier attempts by the President, LSK and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), as well as COTU Secretary-General Francis Atwoli.
The court directed that the recognition agreement is signed within the next five days and talks on the CBA to be finalised in 10 days.
Here is the report:
