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Nurses in the country could soon be downing their tools in a bid to compel the Government to give them better perks by signing their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The nurses, through their umbrella body, Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) National Governing Council (NGC) are set to convene a meeting in Nairobi pending industrial action before the end of the month.
Knun Secretary General Seth Panyako said they were enraged by Attorney General Githu Muigai's move to "give wrong advice to the Government" against signing their CBA.
Panyako said the Government had unconstitutionally shifted the responsibility of signing the CBA to county governments.
Explaining that the health sector was not a fully devolved function, the secretary general accused the Government of conspiring to lock out major stakeholders in the nursing fraternity by avoiding the CBA.
"We have consulted with all our branch secretaries and agreed that nurses will go on a nationwide strike before the end of month. We will announce the date after meeting with our NGC. The main goal of the strike is to compel the Government to sign our CBA," he said.
Panyako, who was speaking in Eldoret, was accompanied by Knun branch secretaries including Mark Cheruiyot (Nandi), John Bii (Uasin Gishu) and Benson Biwott (Elgeyo Marakwet).
He further revealed that the union would push for health care to be fully reverted to the central government, saying the Constitution allowed for distribution of duties in the health sector and not devolution.
The CBA highlights include appointments where the Public Service Commission and/or Health ministry are charged with the responsibility of appointing, recruiting, promoting, re-designating and disciplinary control.
"Retirement age will be 60 years except for people with disability who will retire at 65," it reads.
The CBA also proposes that new appointments will be on a first-qualified-first-appointed basis, with preference being given to qualified Kenyan citizens.
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