Court suspends KMPDU 7-day strike notice in Kirinyaga

A strike notice issued to Kirinyaga County by the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has now suspended by the Employee and Labor Relations Court until a case filed by the Kirinyaga County government is heard and determined.

In the ruling, Justice M. Onyango termed the 7-days strike notice issued by the union as unlawful, prohibited and therefore unprotected.

This comes just a week after the Doctor’s union threatened to withdraw doctors from the Kerugoya Referral Hospital in Kirinyaga County.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru said that the Kirinyaga County Assembly has approved a Ksh.1.8 billion allocation to improve county hospitals.

Governor Waiguru indicated that part of the money will be used to purchase critical equipment, such as an incinerator, a resuscitator, laundry machines and stock hospitals with drugs.

A visibly angry Waiguru however hit at KMPDU saying the union is colluding with her political opponents to sabotage and undermine her leadership.

“The county government will no longer administer the remittance of dues to the doctors union, since they are being used to fight us politically. Let all doctors be paid their salaries in full and can decide to remit the union dues themselves,” she said.

The Kirinyaga county boss also hit out at her political opponents, claiming they incited Kerugoya hospital workers to sabotage operations at the county’s referral facility.

She fingered Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria, accusing him of allegedly issuing statements meant to undermine her leadership.

She further accused the outspoken legislator of allegedly colluding with some local Mps to fight her, adding that she would face them head on.

”One of the local Mp’s fighting me had approached my office seeking to be rewarded a contract to supply hospital laboratory equipment and after being asked to follow the due process, is now trying to paint me in the public as a retrogressive leader,” Waiguru said.

The Kirinyaga county chief blamed the awful situation at the hospital on the high number of patients seeking services at the facility despite the limited resources.

The ultimatum by KMPDU was issued a day after Governor Waiguru formed an emergency taskforce to oversee the immediate clean-up of Kerugoya Referral Hospital which has come under sharp scrutiny in recent times.

The case will be heard on May 29, 2019.