Nurses through their union officials vowed to defy threats by President Uhuru Kenyatta instructing them to report back to work by Friday 15, saying that their strike is constitutional and properly protected.
Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) secretary-general Seth Panyako, addressing the press right after President Kenyatta’s address to the nation, said the strike was still on and that nothing had changed.
Mr Panyako said that he is not the one who called for the strike but KNUN branch officials in the counties did and are the ones who can call off the strike.
“If today they advise me to call off the strike following the directive from our President, I will do that very diligently. This is not a national strike, but we are dealing with individual counties.
“I am still waiting for direction from branch officials, but as it stands, the strike is on until we are paid what is rightfully ours,” Panyako said.
In his address, the President ordered the striking nurses to go back to work by Friday 15 at 8 am and failure to which, the county governments and the ministry of health should sack them.
While responding to this, Panyako said, “we respect the President of this nation and the government. We respect the law but the law must be applied rationally and equitably,”
The president also instructed the police officers to take action on picketers who may intimidate or harass workers who may want to go back to work.
“As the Commander-in-Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces, I have instructed the National Police Service to take stern action against those picketers who may intimidate or otherwise harass public servants who intend to go to work,” the statement reads.
The union officials said that nurses are law abiding citizens and will not engage anyone in hooliganism.
“We are not planning to go against the law and the police should not use force on our people,” he said.
The war of words between the state and KNUN is just a matter of days and all eyes are on what will transpire on Friday if workers don’t report to work as ordered by the president.