Nurses vow to defy Uhuru return-to-work order

Hours after President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a stern warning to nurses to return to work by Friday, February 15, their union has said they will stay put.

Kenya National Union of Nurses Secretary-General Seth Panyako asked the nurses “to remain firm.”

“The strike is a right and properly in place, we shall give them directions,” said Panyako.

Joseph Bwasi, the chairman of KNUN echoed his sentiments saying that the union does not receive its orders from State House.

“We are not responding to the President but rather the status of the ongoing strike across the country,” he said.

“The union leadership has a mandate drawn from our membership, the ongoing strike thereby is determined by the members through the branch leadership. We the national leaders can only be directed by the branch leadership.”

Bwasi asked the leaders to help end the issues affecting nurses.

“The country’s leadership should dispense justice to the nurses, if our pending issues are addressed then we shall put an end to this unrest,” he said.

President Kenyatta, in an address to the nation, ordered striking nurses to immediately stop their strike and return to work.

“As the Commander in Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces, I have instructed National Police Service to take stern action on picketers who may intimidate public servants who intend to go to work,” he warned.