Give us money to pay doctors, Munya to Uhuru

Council of Governors Chairman, Peter Munya, has now thrown the buck back to President Uhuru Kenyatta saying the Governors are willing to comply with his directive if the funds are availed.

Speaking to Citizen TV on phone, Munya said that the stand of governors on withholding doctors’ salaries for the duration they were on strike will remain in force up until they receive funds to implement the President’s directive.

“Let the President then see to it that the national government releases funds to pay the salaries,” said Munya.

This comes just a day after the governor insisted that CoG would only pay doctors for days worked.

Speaking during an investments conference in Meru County on Wednesday, April 5, Munya, however, indicated that it would take the Council of Governors to meet and rescind the decision on releasing salaries and without which their stand holds.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, while on a tour of Kiambu on Wednesday, April 5, 2017, said that the medics who were on strike from December 5, 2016 to early March this year, be paid their full salaries for that period.

The President said although workers have a right to go on strike, doctors should have been more responsible to save lives rather than let Kenyans die because of a ‘salary increase’.

“Can we bring back to life those who died because of lack of medical care during the doctor’s strike?”

“You took an oath to treat patients whether it is day or night; you swore to save life with or without money,” the president said.

In Kiambu, Governor William Kabogo has said that he will not pay the doctors until he receives a directive from CoG.

While addressing the County Assembly during the State of the County Address, the governor said paying the doctors without such consent would lead to an audit query that could see him summoned by the Senate.

Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) officials, who are in Nyeri, have since welcomed the President’s directive, ending a stalemate that threatened to raise another line of agitation.

This comes after doctors last month called off the 100-day strike that has paralyzed services in public hospitals countrywide.

The strike was called off by the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union after they signed a return-to-work formula with the Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopha Mailu and Council of Governors Chairman Peter Munya.