End strike in five days or go to jail, judge tells KMPDU chiefs
What you need to know:
- Employment and Labour Relations Court Judge Hellen Wasilwa on Thursday also ordered the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union to continue talks with the government.
- The development came as the strike entered the 53rd day, with patients from poor backgrounds bearing the brunt of the crisis.
The labour court has extended the suspension of a jail sentence it granted doctors’ union officials on the condition that they end their job boycott in five days.
Employment and Labour Relations Court Judge Hellen Wasilwa on Thursday also ordered the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) to continue talks with the government.
The judge sternly urged the doctors' union officials to call off the strike, saying the issue at hand was of great public interest.
2013 CBA
She pointed out that she had not sent anyone to prison for the last 10 years and does not wish to jail the KMPDU bosses.
The doctors are demanding full implementation of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) they signed with the government in 2013.
KMPDU officials had appeared before Justice Wasilwa to update her on the ongoing negotiations on doctors' salaries with the Health ministry.
Samuel Oroko Oregi, Titus Ondoro, Allan Ochanji, Fredrick Ouma Oluga, Hamisi Mwachonda Chibanzi, Daisy Korir and Evelyne Chege also wanted to know their fate after the judge threatened to arrest and lock them up for violating the court's orders.
NEW APPLICATION
Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo was in court and asked the judge to consider suspending the jail term sentence.
But the union has filed an application seeking to extend the negotiations period, arguing that it was looking forward to an amicable settlement.
In the application, the officials have attached to their case documents minutes of the several meetings they have held with the ministry as proof of what has been transpiring in the past two weeks.
SUSPENDED SENTENCE
The judge on Wednesday directed the union officials' lawyer to give copies of the new application to parties in the case before she issues further directions on the case, which she certified as urgent.
Justice Wasilwa on January 12 granted the officials a suspended sentence after finding them guilty of calling the strike in breach of court orders.
Doctors who had turned up for the KMPDU officials' court date outside the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi on January 26, 2017. PHOTO | MAUREEN KAKAH | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The judge suspended their sentence for two weeks to allow them to participate in talks aimed at resolving the stalemate.
During the sentencing in a packed courtroom, the judge had faulted the officials for adamantly disobeying court orders while referring to the CBA, which she said she was not aware of since the eight had failed to turn up in court as ordered to explain themselves.
DEFENCE
“As we sit, there is no CBA registered, one which can be applied and implemented. I do not know what you are complaining about and I think if you call off the strike it will take faster to resolve this stalemate than those boardroom meetings,” she said.
On that day, the judge called the names of the officials one by one and gave them time to defend themselves before announcing her verdict.
She likened the accused to the biblical first king of Israel who, when questioned about his failures, did not admit his own mistakes.
