Mombasa health workers threaten to paralyse county operations
Reuben Mwambingu @reubenmwambingu
Mombasa health workers yesterday accused Governor Hassan Joho’s administration of failing to address their grievances and threatened to call for another strike.
The employees vowed to paralyse county operations by shutting down offices to key departments following failure by the county government to deal with nurses’ grievances.
Yesterday, Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) Mombasa branch Secretary Peter Maroko asked the public to brace for another strike.
“The County has failed to implement 80 per cent of the issues that we had agreed to in the return to work formula,” he said.
The strike threat comes four months after the workers ended their three-month strike following the signing of a return-to-work formula with the county government.
According to Maroko (pictured), the administration had continued to ignore their plight, the agreement notwithstanding.
The union vowed to mobilise nurses to shut the governor’s office and place the finance department under lock and key.
“In the agreement we signed, most of the issues have never been implemented. From delayed salaries, promotions and delayed remittance of statutory deductions.
Every time we look for the finance department officials so that we can have a conversation about these issues, they are never available,” Maroko.
In November last year, over 1,000 health workers in Mombasa downed their tools to protest the same grievances.
After the signing of the return-to-work formula, the then acting Health Executive Godfrey Nato said the negotiations between the unions and the county government were dragging because of matters promotions and delay in remittance of statutory deductions. He said they had agreed to settle the issues by March.
