Murang’a nurses who had sued the County Public Service Board over failure to remit their five months salaries suffered a blow after their petition was dismissed yesterday.

The Labour and Employment court in Nyeri dismissed a petition by 438 nurses, who had also sued Governor Mwangi wa Iria of failure to remit their salaries and allowance for a period they were on strike.

Each of the nurses was demanding between Sh400,000 and Sh500,000 from the county government.

In his ruling, Justice Nzioka Makau said the Council of Governors (CoG) was merely an instrument for inter-county cooperation, based on the fact that there was an agreement between the CoG and the nurses that does not bind the service board and the governor.

In the petition, the judge said the nurses did not enjoin the CoG in the case and that they misinterpreted the law to mean the council supervised the governor in his functions. The nurses have vowed to appeal the ruling.