The Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) has given 35 counties up to Monday evening to pay their members failure to which they will down their tools.
KNUN Secretary General Seth Panyako said on Thursday that come Monday 5 pm, all nurses in the 35 devolved units will down their tools if they will not have cleared the delayed payments.
“We have declared total war with these counties if they do not pay nurses by close of business on Monday 5 pm. None of the health workers will go to work,” said Panyako as quoted by Nation.
He also directed the blame on the Council of Governors for the current payment crisis by saying that they were misleading governors on payment of salaries and remittance of union fees.
The nurses' union boss accused CoG chair Kakamega Governor Wyclif Oparanya of lack of leadership skills.
"Oparanya has paid nurses in his county yet he is urging the other counties not to pay. Kakamega County remitted the salaries on Thursday morning yet Governor Oparanya has issued a letter of ‘press for hard times'. What kind of leadership is this? Continuously hoodwinking and misleading governors because the healthcare system in his county will be running smoothly as the rest run in havoc," he said.
The counties that will not be affected by the planned strike are Kakamega, Mombasa, Wajir, Garissa, Nairobi, Kajiado, Kiambu, Tana River, Turkana, Kwale, Bungoma and Kisii.