President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered striking nurses to resume duty by Friday 8:00 am or risk losing their jobs. Speaking at State House, Nairobi, President Kenyatta said he has ordered the National Police Service to take stern action against those picketers who may intimidate or harass public servants who intend to go to work. The nurses’ strike which started on 4th February was called by KNUN over a failure by the two levels of government to honour an agreement reached with the nurses on November 2017, and was set to affect select Counties countrywide. However, some Counties, including Nairobi struck deals with the nurses to stop the industrial action, although the Employment and Labour Relations Court had called for an end to the strike to pave the way for talks between the nurses union, Governors and the national government. “Any nurse who fails to report to work as directed above will be dismissed by the County government and Ministry of Health,” said President Kenyatta.
The Head of State said the respective County governments will be at liberty to undertake any action they deem appropriate against personnel who fail to resume duty as directed by the Employment and Labour Relations Court. “We have a clear development agenda and as an investment destination and a government that seeks to provide services to her people, we can’t allow unlawful discrimination to derail us from our focus of taking Kenya forward,” he added.
President Kenyatta noted that it’s disheartening to learn that nurses have decided to engage in the unlawful withdrawal of their labour to Kenyans against the determination of the Employment and Labour Relations Court which suspended the strike to pave the way for talks. “No one is above the law..obeying Court orders isn’t optional and it’s a requirement of all of us no matter their place in society,” he affirmed.