Did you know that having a loud mouth could land you in a lot of trouble in Kenya? If you didn’t, then you better learn from one man, Seth Panyako.
Seth Panyako, Secretary General to the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) was today morning arrested over claims of inciting health workers at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) to go on strike.
Mr. Panyako was arrested a few moments before he addressed union members in the wake of a strike. He was taken by police following a report by the KNH Security Chief, Manase Mukhwana.
According to Mr. Mukhwana, they decided to call the police because Panyako had no permit to incite nurses to strike.
“He is an outsider, hence, cannot come here to cause disruption at the hospital when nurses are at work,” Mukhwana said.
The doctors and nurses at the Kenyatta national hospital had downed their tools to protest what they termed as their ‘insecurity’ after one of the nurses at the referral hospital was allegedly assaulted by an angry patient.
Panyako was arrested alongside other officials who were accused of inciting the nurses and instigating the protests that paralyzed services at the health facility.
There are allegations that there are several protesting nurses who were also arrested and held in custody at the KNH police post.
The nurses at the referral hospital said the go-slow followed the “management’s infringement of their right to join a union.
“Our colleague was hurt but the management has not taken any action or given any information regarding the patient who assaulted the nurse,” said one of the nurses. According to reports from the nurses, the assaulted nurse was asked to pay for her own treatment despite being attacked in her line of duty.
Two weeks ago, a nurse at the facility was allegedly attacked by a mother of a 17-year-old boy who died at the hospital. The mother of the boy however said that she acted out of pain and anger after the nurse was rude to her after she sought information regarding her deceased child.
KNUN union officials led demonstrations at the facility blaming security guards for the incident.
“Nurses have already withdrawn their services on grounds of security challenges at the hospital,” said Panyako before he was arrested.
Do you think the arrest of Seth Panyako is a violation of his rights to freedom of speech?