Listing of nurses’ union ruled out

The Ministry of Labour on Tuesday insisted that it will not register the nurses union.

Drama ensued after the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) secretary-general Seth Panyako stormed a press conference called by the National Labour Board at the ministry’s offices in Nairobi.

Mr Panyako’s presence at the meeting was not recognised until he and Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) secretary-general Francis Atwoli tussled for a seat.

Earlier, the board’s chairman, Dr Ekuru Aukot, described the nurses’ strike as illegal. He said the organisation that called the strike is not registered and cannot participate in an industrial action.

Other organisations

Dr Aukot said the board had deliberated and rejected the union since nurses are “sufficiently represented” in other organisations.

“There are the Union of Kenya Civil Servants; the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotel, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers; and the Local Government Workers Union representing nurses and Local Government institutions respectively,” Dr Aukot said.

The recourse available to the nurses is appeal at the Industrial Court, he added.

“The Labour Relations Act advocates industry-based unions. By registering the nurses’ union, the ministry will be encouraging craft-based unions, leading to a multiplicity of unions within the same sector. This may cause further confusion, conflict and industrial disharmony in the public sector and the country,” Dr Aukot said.

Cotu and Federation of Kenya Employers representatives at the meeting supported the government’s position.

Mr Atwoli said Kenya stands the risk of having “briefcase trade unions” if the stipulations were not in place.

Later, Mr Panyako accused the government of frustrating their efforts to register, maintaining that the union was gazetted and that they had met all the registration requirements.

At the same time, nurses across the country continued with their strike.

In Nyanza, they continued with their boycott despite orders by the chief nursing officer to resume work.

KNUN Nyanza branch secretary Morris Odhiambo, said: “Nurses in Nyanza have received threats from their supervisors that they will be sacked but this has not cowed them.” (Read: Striking nurses face the sack)

Paralyse services

Elsewhere, Public Health permanent secretary Mark Bor said KNUN was an unregistered body and its purported officials had no mandate to paralyse services at hospitals.

Meanwhile, accident victims at the Coast General Hospital in Mombasa are bearing  the brunt of the nurses’ strike. A visit by the Nation team to the accident ward on Tuesday showed that the patients were going through a lot of pain as they were not attended to for days.

Mr Wycliffe Aballa, one of the patients at the hospital, is becoming weaker by the day. A matron who was serving him food said that he is supposed to undergo blood transfusion but it is only conducted by nurses.

The Coast provincial director of health, Dr Maurice Siminyu, urged patients to seek help at private hospitals due to the strike.

Reported by Lillian Onyango, Lilian Ochieng, Geoffrey Rono and Rebecca Okwany