Tunai fires striking Narok nurses, advertises their jobs

Narok Governor Samuel Tunai on Friday sacked all nurses who had not resumed duty following a strike and advertised their positions.

The governor described their industrial action as illegal and said he would not "add a penny" to their pay.

“The [county health minister] has already written show cause letters to the nurses. We also advertised their positions and had 2,500 applicants in one week," the governor said.

“We have put up notices calling on interested candidates to apply for the positions. Those who are on strike ... continue with your strike but know you are not coming back here. Other people will take your positions."

DIRECTIVE

Mr Tunai's announcement came after some of the health workers defied a return-to-work order by President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose deadline was Friday morning.

In an address from State House, Nairobi, after a meeting with the Council of Governors last Wednesday, Mr Kenyatta directed the Health ministry and county governments to fire nurses who defied the directive.

In his statement on Friday, Governor Tunai noted that the Employment and Labour Relations Court, President Kenyatta and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission declared the strike illegal.

He also noted the CoG's duty is to initiate development projects, not discuss civil servants' salaries.

“The matter of civil servants' salaries lies solely with the SRC, which has written to the SRC asking it not to add even a penny to the striking nurses' pay," he said.

He spoke while receiving a consignment of drugs worth Sh38 million drugs from Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS) at the county referral hospital.

CONTRACTS

Mr Tunai further noted that the jobs will be contractual and that only competitive people will be hired, as stated in the county's advertisement in the local dailies.

“Successful candidates will get renewable contracts subject to proven performance,” the county's Public Service Board said in the notice.

More than 150 nurses, whose boycott has entered the second week, are agitating for higher salaries, uniform and nursing service allowances, better working conditions and promotions.

However, figures at the Narok County Referral Hospital showed that 20 nurses defied their the Kenya National Union of Nurses' order to strike and reported to work despite lack of a county promise for promotions.

Mr Tunai argued that it was ironic for a nurse with a certificate and more than Sh90,000 in monthly pay to go on strike while an engineer earns Sh34,000 and does not take the same action.

Nurses earn Sh20,000 every month in service allowances but this was to be increased to Sh30,000 over three years from 2017. The uniform allowance was raised to Sh10,000.

Governor Tunai called on the health workers to respect the court's decision and the President's call to return to work. Early in February, a court granted governors their wish and suspended the nurses' strike for 60 days.