Nurses refuse to return to work until their demands are met
National
By
Noel Nabiswa and Jacob Ochiro
| Aug 26, 2026
Nurses and midwives have intensified pressure on the Council of Governors (COG), accusing county governments of reneging on agreements and ignoring the plight of health workers as their nationwide strike entered its 29th day on Tuesday.
The Kenya National Union of Nurses and Midwives (KNUNM) says there will be no return to work until its key demands, including implementation of the 2017 return-to-work formula, adoption of career progression guidelines and permanent and pensionable terms for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) workers, are addressed.
Speaking during a peaceful procession to the COG offices in Westlands which happened two days after a section of the union leaders led by Secretary General Seth Panyako held deliberations with the chair of the Health Committee in the Council of Governors, Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir, in Mombasa, KNUNM National Chairman Joseph Ngwasi said nurses had exhausted negotiations and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms after years of unfulfilled promises.
“Our CBA is not negotiable. Our CBA must be signed and implemented. No CBA, no work. No career guidelines, no work,” Ngwasi said.
The union has also rejected claims that nurses are pushing for an outdated agreement, saying the CBA remains one of the central unresolved issues since the union was registered in 2013.
Ngwasi accused governors of failing to honour the 2017 return-to-work formula, which ended a five-month nurses' strike, saying the agreement cannot continue to be treated as a mere piece of paper.
The union says the career progression guidelines are equally critical, particularly in recognising nurses who have acquired specialised skills and higher academic qualifications.
KNUNM Assistant Secretary General Lucy Wambui said nurses continue to stagnate professionally despite advancing their education and taking up specialised roles.
She said the guidelines developed through consultations with the Council of Governors should be adopted and implemented to provide nurses with a clear path for career progression.
Another major sticking point is the fate of UHC workers who have remained on contracts for years despite playing a critical role in the country's health system.
The union says many of the workers were deployed during the Covid-19 pandemic, when health workers were at the frontline battling the virus, with some sacrificing their lives while serving patients.
Ngwasi said it was unacceptable for workers who had provided continuous services for years to remain on contracts without proper appointment letters.
The nurses are demanding permanent and pensionable terms for the affected UHC workers, arguing that their services are continuous and cannot simply be declared redundant.
The union is also demanding recognition of the occupational risks nurses face, saying they are often the first health workers to interact with patients before diagnosis, laboratory testing or treatment.
Wambui said nurses had repeatedly raised similar grievances during previous strikes in 1997, 2013 and 2017, but the issues had continued to recur.
The union maintains that it has remained committed to negotiations and alternative dispute resolution but was forced to take industrial action after what it described as prolonged inaction by county governments.
The nurses also faulted claims that the 2017 agreement was signed under political pressure, insisting that the government was already in its second term when the return-to-work deal was reached.
“Governments have no vacuum. If one exits the office, another one takes over. If our services are continuous, so should our welfare be,” Wambui said.
Nurses who have resumed work have been put on notice, with the union claiming that the contracts given to them were below par. "We are telling anyone at work right now, if anything happens to them while at work, they will be on their own," said Stephen Ruteere, National Organising Secretary KNUNM.
The union's irreducible minimums remain the implementation of the 2017 agreement, harmonisation and adoption of career progression guidelines, and permanent and pensionable terms for UHC workers.
As the strike enters its 29th day, KNUNM is challenging the Council of Governors to return to the negotiating table and resolve the outstanding issues, warning that nurses will remain off duty until their demands are addressed. Their next procession has been planned for Thursday next week.