Kenyan nurses have been on strike for over a week demanding a rise in pay and improved working conditions.
The strike has brought health services to a halt in many parts of the country and led to several deaths, health officials say.
Bernard Kerosi works as a nurse in western Kenya. He travelled to the capital Nairobi to take part in a protest held by the Kenya National Union of Nurses on Monday (June 12).
Protesters marched to the offices of the Council of Governors (CoG) to push for the negotiated Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) meant to have been signed by the union, the national government and county governments, but was rejected by the state commission that advises on public sector pay.
“We are working under tough conditions whereby we don’t have enough equipment, we don’t have enough supplies, in fact we don’t even have enough staff. At times, most of the times we are understaffed so in due course we get overworked,” said Kerosi.
CoG, which represents the counties said it planned to challenge the government’s rejection of the deal.
A nationwide doctors strike that nearly crippled the health sector ended in March after three months. The doctors downed their tools in December demanding authorities implement a deal agreed in 2013 to give them a 150 to 180 percent pay rise.
Private doctors were flooded with patients during the strike, but many Kenyans were unable to afford the fees and could not get treatment.
Officials of the 26,000-member nurses union say they will not return to work until the CBA is signed.
“We have the right to negotiate with the employer, and have a CBA, sign it, signed and implemented so that the nurses as any other worker in Kenya who is allowed to bargain for fair terms and conditions can enjoy better or fair terms and conditions of work. So we are saying, the government should sort out their problem then bring their CBA for signing, the nurses will go back to work,” said Maurice Opetu, acting general secretary of the union.
Protests in health and education have been a major headache for the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is seeking re-election when Kenya holds parliamentary and presidential elections in August.
