Ojaamong: Busia doctors won’t be paid for days they were on strike

Doctors working in Busia County and who participated in the 100-day strike will not be paid for the days they were away from duty, Governor Sospeter Ojaamong has said.

Speaking at Kenya Medical Training College, Busia Campus on Thursday during KMTC open day, Mr Ojaamong reiterated that he will follow the directive by the government and the Council of Governors (CoG) that ordered counties to pay doctors from the time they reported back on duty.

“The directive is constitutional and we will follow it to the letter.

"We don’t want to encourage a habit whereby public servants participant in industrial action and later demand to be paid for days they did report to work," said the governor.

YET TO AGREE

The county boss added that they are yet to agree with the doctors on a return-to-work formula and saying what was signed was only a recognition agreement to help in talks on the collective bargaining agreement.

“We are still willing to meet with them (doctors) to find a lasting solution to these issues. All we want as leaders is service delivery to our people,” said Mr Ojaamong.

Busia KMTC Principal Dominic Ndombi said plans are at an advanced stage to offer other courses at the institution which admitted its first students pursuing clinical medicine.

“We want to take full advantage of our campus being at the border to mobilise student from within the East African Community and increase the scope of our products.

“Since the college is ISO certified, our students are highly trained to remain competitive in the market. This gives them an upper hand and they can work anywhere in the world.

The college, an initiative of the Busia County government, started operations in October 2016 and has 53 students.