Kenyan government withdraws offer to striking doctors

By Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - The government on Tuesday ordered striking doctors to return to work or face disciplinary action and withdrew a 50 percent pay rise offer.

A three-month industrial action has seen medics across the country calling for the government to implement a 2013 deal to give them a 150 to 180 percent pay rise as well as review working conditions.

President Uhuru Kenyatta accused doctors of being inflexible in their demands. “We will not succumb to threats and intimidation,” he said in remarks broadcast on Capital FM radio.

“Do these doctors think we are that stupid? You only work for two hours in government facilities and then run to your private clinics.”

He said there would be no further negotiation on salaries and allowances.

During the strike, private hospitals have mostly continued to operate, leading Kenyatta to comment that “the better off still have access to a doctor’s care, while poorer Kenyans must do without.”

He added: “There is no fairness in that. I know that the doctors feel aggrieved but it is also clear to me that doctors’ grievances will not be addressed by creating new grievances of their own.”

The strike provoked anger among the public and threatened to impact on an election in August.

Peter Munya, who leads a council of county governors, read a joint statement from the council and the government as Kenyatta looked on at the annual devolution conference in Nairobi.

He accused the doctors’ union of rejecting a deal to hike their pay by 50 percent and pay $5.8 million in backdated allowances.

“Consequently for failure to call off the strike, the government has now rescinded this offer and there will be no further negotiations," he said, adding that doctors were expected to return to work “with immediate effect”.

“It is now time for the die to fall as they may -- and for each individual doctor, pharmacist and dentist within the public service to negotiate with his/her particular employer, be it the national government in the case of those working in national facilities or in the particular county government,” he said.