Sack SRC boss, protesting Kisii nurses say

Striking Kisii nurses have called for the sacking of Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) chair Sarah Serem, accusing her of blocking signing of a CBA.

The health workers chanted slogans and waved placards as they hoisted the SRC chair's effigy as they marched along the streets.

Led by Kenya National Union of Nurses' (Knun) deputy secretary general Eric Rioba, the protesting nurses vowed not to return to work until their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was signed.

"We are determined to down our tools until our promised CBA is signed. There can be no retreat or compromise as long as our grievances are ignored by the government," said Mr Rioba.

He accused the SRC chair of being insensitive to the plight of nurses, whom he termed as "essential pillars of the healthcare delivery system".

SEREM EFFIGY

"We are dismayed by the SRC chair's determination to deny us our legitimate rights that were spelled out in the CBA by opposing its terms and conditions which the government agreed to. Nurses will not be cowed by her attempts to take away the CBA's hard-won terms and conditions of service," said Mr Rioba.

Nurses later stretched out the effigy a few metres from Kisii Police station and administered several strokes of the cane to it as they chanted anti-Serem slogans.

"Serem must go! SRC must go! We want our CBA!" chanted the nurses as one of them caned the effigy.

"We are publicly caning Sarah Serem because of her unwillingness to address the grievances of stressed, harassed and poverty-stricken nurses.

SERVICES PARALYSED

“She is the enemy of better working conditions for nurses," said Mr Moses Rianga, the union's secretary general

Meanwhile, services in most state-run facilities in the county remain paralysed as the strike entered its 31st day.

Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital has discharged most of its admitted patients as they cannot be given round the clock attention by doctors and clinical officers who are still on duty.