Siaya: Siaya nurses who have been on strike for three weeks now have vowed to press on with their industrial action to push their employer to release their third-party deductions to various statutory bodies. The health workers at the same time are demanding compensation for their colleagues who were injured during last week's attack by hired goons as they demonstrated outside the county headquarters.
According to Kenya News Agency, the nurses, led by the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) and Mid-wives, Siaya branch secretary, Kennedy Hamisi, expressed dissatisfaction with the county's response. The decision to send the head of county enforcement unit, John Okoth, on a 30-day compulsory leave following the incident was deemed insufficient by the union. They insist that the county government must take full responsibility for the actions that led to the attack.
Hamisi reported that more than 20 nurses sustained injuries during the fracas, where they were assaulted with clubs and other crude weapons. The union demands the arrest and prosecution of those involved in the incident, in addition to adequate compensation for the injured.
'The county government must not only compensate those injured, it will also have to cover the financial losses they incurred during the ordeal,' said Hamisi. The KNUN Siaya branch treasurer, Roseline Oywer, reiterated the nurses' stance, stating that they will not return to work until all their demands are satisfactorily addressed.