Suspend campaigns, focus on nurses' strike, Haki Africa tells state

Striking nurses march to the Council of Governors office in Nairobi to demand the implementation of their Collecive Bargaining Agreement, June 12, 2017. /JACK OWUOR
Striking nurses march to the Council of Governors office in Nairobi to demand the implementation of their Collecive Bargaining Agreement, June 12, 2017. /JACK OWUOR

Rights group Haki Africa wants the government to suspend campaigns and turns its focus tot he nurses' strike that began about three weeks ago.

Executive director Hussein Khalid has accused politicians of being insensitive to the cries of people dying in

hospitals.

Tens of Kenyans across the country have died following the strike.

On June 12, the Kenya National Union of Nurses dismissed the possibility of renegotiating the CBA over which the health workers are on strike.

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“We are calling for the immediate suspension of campaigns countrywide for attention to be given to the health crisis affecting millions of Kenyans,” Khalid said in a statement on Wednesday.

Nurses want counties to sign their Collective Bargaining Agreement for higher pay but governors have said it is too costly and dismissed the strike as illegal.

Haki Africa said politicians must realise the lives and rights of Kenyans are more important than their political ambitions.

“We must prioritise Kenyans, not individuals’ desires to lead,” he said.

The health sector has been in crisis for the last few years.

In January, doctors downed their tools for 100 days, paralysing operations at some 2,500 public facilities. Tens of people died.

On Tuesday, KNUN officials had fruitful discussions, secretary general Seth Panyako saying "there is light at the end of the tunnel".

Health CS Cleopa Mailu wants the union to call of the strike amid negotiations but Panyako has refused, saying it will only end once their deal is signed.

Some counties have threatened not to pay nurses for the duration they have been on strike.

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