Governors are contemplating whether to pay the doctors after the nationwide strike even after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered that the doctors get paid. PHOTO/businessdailyafrica.com
Governors are contemplating whether or not to pay the doctors who were involved in the nationwide strike even after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered that they pay the salaries.
Speaking in Voi on Friday, the Council of Governors (CoG) vice chair John Mruttu said that they are yet to decide if the doctors deserve to get salaries for the three-months strike period.
“We are still negotiating so right now I cannot state our stand ... We will give our resolutions when we conclude our talks,” Mruttu said.
He however insisted that it was illegal to pay doctors who did not work, arguing that the law bars an employee from demanding payment for boycotting work.
“Employees get paid for days they have worked. We are, however, looking into the Return-to-Work Formula, which the doctors signed, and see whether there are ways we can create goodwill with governors to agree to pay the doctors,” he added.
President Kenyatta on Thursday issued the directive to pay the doctors after they threatened to resume their strike over the pay.
Mruttu however said that the president cannot dictate to the county governments what to do to their employees.
"For us, we will state our decision once we are done with negotiations," he said.
“The national government has its doctors. If they want to pay them let them go ahead,” he added.