Ex-Kenya VP Kalonzo says deregistering doctors union is unconstitutional

You have no powers to deregister the doctor's trade union, former Vice president Kalonzo Musyoka has told the national and county governments.

Kalonzo scoffed at threats to reign on the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) terming it as futile and illegal.

The former Vice President who spoke on Wednesday at the ongoing Devolution Conference, said the constitution of Kenya 2010 has enshrined in the Bill of Rights, the inalienable rights to belong to a trade union and that It cannot be taken away.

"We have read the papers headlines today that the government wants to deregister the doctors union and sack its members. We want to raise a red flag here that such move is illegal and can't work. The Bill of Rights is very clear and that can't be taken away," he said.

Kalonzo criticized the government for failing to offer a solution to the doctor's strike now on its 96th day claiming that there has been no goodwill from the state.

He hit at both the national and county governments for withdrawing a Sh600 million risk allowance offered to the medics to call off the strike, saying the withdrawal was a sign of the ill faith.

"In negotiations, you go there in good faith and that’s how you yield results but not withdrawing any offer on the table, which is a clear show that there is no goodwill from the government."

On Tuesday, President Uhuru Kenyatta and all the 47 governors met at the sidelines of the ongoing Devolution Conference in Naivasha, Nakuru County, to crack the whip on union officials and their members whose actions have crippled the health sector.

The President chaired a mini Extra-Ordinary Summit that agreed on a raft of measures to deal with the medics who have rejected every offer for the last three months, despite the courts declaring their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) illegal.

The Sh600 million risk allowance that had been awarded to the doctors was withdrawn, as Munya insisted that the 50 percent pay increment offer still stands from those medics willing to resume duty immediately.