Council of Governors slams striking doctors

The Council of Governors has slammed striking doctors for complicating negotiations with the government to end their nationwide strike. Led by their council Chairman Peter Munya, they have cited the hard line stance of doctors as the main barrier to achieving fruitful negotiations between the two warring parties.

He mentioned the insistence of their officials on the government to implement the agreed Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) has been detrimental to any efforts by the latter to work out a new deal that put the 72-day-strike to an end. The Meru County governor termed the doctors' demand for a 400% salary increase as unrealistic and preposterous.

"What we need to ask ourselves first is can the public sector afford to pay that amount? Their demands are totally unrealistic, even their counterparts from the private sectors are not paid as much. We can only give what we can be able to.” He explained.

Kisumu County governor Jack Ranguma who was present at the meeting accused their union officials of subterfuge, after they had initially agreed to call of the strike.

"We discussed with them, we had agreed on a return to work formula only for them to throw down the deal at the last minute. They only had to sign the counter offer but they never showed up the following day". He lamented.

When questioned on whether the doctors are working under suitable conditions, governor Munya confidently stated that all medical facilities are available at county hospitals and further insisted that statistics show health has improved under county management. However, the Council of Governors stated that they are ready and willing to continue discussions with the doctors in order to agree on a deal that will take them back to work as soon as possible. He said that if the doctors have good intentions then they can agree on a return to work formula as they allow other issues in the CBA to be negotiated and addressed accordingly.