Salaries Increment Not the Solution to the Doctors Strike

Kenyan Doctors are on strike again. At the centre of the tussle is a disputed 300% pay increase they claim was promised to them through a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) made in 2013. And even though we miss the graphic and creative ambulation that characterize teachers' strike, there is no gainsaying that the strike hasn't been short of jokes and mirth.

Tough-talking union leaders have remained pervasive regardless of the profession. Take the 'Lipa Kama Tender' placard for instance that has elicited enormous reactions from the public. Not lost in these reactions is the debate about whether or not the doctors pay demand is valid and the taunting argument about medicine being a calling and not just another career. The latter argument has now turned to be a source of pathological chagrin to doctors who must contend with the sight of individuals with less demanding careers earning astronomical amounts in salaries and allowances.