A high level meeting has been convened by the
Kenyan senate to bring an end to the current doctors' impasse. The move follows the
reluctance by the National Assembly to offer itself in solving the current
stalemate that has seen Kenyans go for 42 days without services of doctors. The
meeting spearheaded by senators allied to the opposition (Mombasa) Hassan Omar
and (Makueni) Mutula Kilonzo Jr will bring together all warring parties on one
table as an 'initial step' towards ending the crisis. Both the senate's legal
committee headed by Busia Senator Amos Wako and Health Committee chair Wilfred
Machage will be in attendance. Others are officials from the Salaries and
Remuneration Commission(SRC), Public Service Commission(PSC) and Council of
Governors(CoG). Senator Kilonzo will also be representing the doctors'
union-Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU)- to
avert a possible jail sentence that is now hanging on their necks. Yesterday
the senators allied to Wiper Party expressed their solidarity with the doctors
saying it is 'unfortunate' and 'unacceptable' that the government is not
willing to have the 2013 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) it signed with
doctors implemented.
On Thursday, Industrial court judge Justice
Hellen Wasilwa sentenced the doctors' union officials to a one month suspended
sentence effective in two week's time if they do not call off the strike.
This was from a case filed by the Council of Governors where
the strike was later declared illegal. Doctors have stood their ground since
December 5, 2016 demanding to have their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)
signed by the government implemented or else they do not resume work.
Culled from the Internet
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