We will not call off strike until you pay us, Kisumu nurses vow.

 A section of striking nurses in Kisumu County who today converge at Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground.They have vowed not to go back to work until they are paid for the nurse Service Allowance-Photo By Dickson Odhiambo

 By Dickson Odhiambo

February 6, 2019.

We will not call off strike until you pay us, Kisumu nurses vow.

ABOUT 800 nurses in Kisumu County have vowed not to call off their ongoing strike until the County Government of Kisumu pays them the nursing service allowance and uniform allowance amounting to shs 30,000 per month for every nurse.

The nurses who have joined their colleagues in other counties in a strike that begun on Monday this week have vowed that unless they are paid such allowance they won’t go back to work.

Speaking through their Kenya National Union of Nurses {KNUN} Kisumu Branch today at Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground, the Nurses said this was agreed through a return work formula last year after they went on strike for five months where the amount also include uniform allowance.

The Kenya National Union of Nurses Kisumu Branch Secretary Ann Owiti and Chairperson Flora Ambani say the strike will continue until the nurses are paid the nursing service allowance and the uniform allowance.

They says the allowances were supposed to be paid as from last year in July but they have not been paid any cent yet.

“We are stating that we will not go back to work until the nurses are paid the allowances they demand as agreed last year. We are the ones who called the strike and will only call it off after being paid the allowances,” they say.

They claim that their colleagues in other counties like Kwale, Migori among others have paid the allowances but Kisumu County have not paid for no apparent reason.

“Our counterparts from other counties have been paid the allowances we are demanding but we have not been paid in Kisumu despite the funds being available,” they add.

The nurses have trashed the move by the Council of Governors who has moved to court with an aim of stopping the ongoing strike.

They say the strike is within a county hence is not an issue of the Council of Governors, adding that the council should keep off the affair, adding that this is an engagement between the nurses and their respective county Government.

Kisumu County Executive Committee Member in charge of health and Sanitation Dr. Rosemary Obara when addressing the press yesterday in Kisumu said there is sh 34 million which should be used to pay the nurses service and Uniform allowances.

Obara added that they are waiting a go ahead from the Council of Governors to pay the nurses in Kisumu County.

Kisumu Branch Treasurer of the Kenya National Union of Nurses Charlotte Barasa the allowance demanded by the nurses have been spread to three phases beginning July 2018 where they were to be paid shs 20,000 once then shs  3,000 July last year, shs 3,500 for the second and third phases respectively in July this year and July next year.

ENDS: