ODM party leader and AU special envoy Raila Odinga has been silent on the country’s developments for a while.
Raila today called for dialogue to end the nurses strike insisting that the government and the nurses need to agree on alternative ways to end the industrial unrest that has crippled service delivery in the health sector.
“We should reach a place where industrial peace should be the priority of everyone. If today is nurses, tomorrow will be doctors, the other day teachers, lecturers and Cotu boss Francis Atwoli will follow with so many demands,” he said.
The former Prime Minister said it is unfair for Kenyans to be subjected to suffering in various public health facilities as a result of the ongoing strike which is in its third week.
He was speaking in Kisii on Wednesday during the official launch of the Kisii Referral Hospital.
“Ndovu wawili wakimenyana si nyasi huumia? [When two elephants fight isn’t the grass which suffers?] ” he said.
Raila said since all public servants depend on a centralised account, there is a great need for the government to review its priorities and what the public money should be spent on first.
He said the government should not waste a lot of money on salaries and wages since there should be an equal focus on infrastructure and other development projects in line with devolution.
Raila also maintained that he and President Uhuru Kenyatta, through the Building Bridges Initiative, were committed to seeing a more united Kenya than before.