Doctors' strike: Governors warn Gov't against implementing contentious 2017 CBA

The Council of Governors (CoG) has warned the national government against giving in to the demand by doctors to implement the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed in 2017 that is at the centre of their month-long strike.

The move by the Governors to disregard the 2017/2021 CBA is likely to plunge the country into further uncertainty since the health professionals have also already adopted a hard stance.

CoG Chair Anne Waiguru, in a statement to newsrooms after a meeting on Tuesday, said implementation of the CBA will have a ripple effect on the counties since other cadres of staff will also demand the same.

She said that unless the National Treasury is ready to pump additional resources to meet the expected demands should the CBA be honoured, then the counties will not be a party to it.

“The Council of Governors appreciates the Whole of Nation Approach directive by the court whose aim is to have a long-lasting solution to the perennial industrial unrest in the health sector. However, this is not tenable as both the national and county governments are independent and distinct employers,” stated Waiguru. 

“In the event that the national government agrees to the implementation of the CBA, this will have a ripple effect on all the civil servants' basic pay and will require additional allocation of resources to all the counties.”

She downplayed the doctors' call for better pay saying they’re currently remunerated well, claiming County Senior Medical Officers presently take home nearly half a million shillings in wages.

“We also wish to bring to the attention of the public that senior medical doctors are paid 103% higher, which is double the amount that is paid to non-health workers in the public service and other doctors in the private sector,” she said.

“Currently, a County Senior Medical Officer is paid Ksh.479,000, with a basic salary of Ksh.203, 000, emergency call allowance (Ksh.80,000), house allowance (Ksh.56,000), commuter allowance (Ksh.20,000), non-practice allowance (Ksh.60,000), extraneous allowance (Ksh.40,000), and risk allowance (Ksh.20,000),” she noted.

Consequently, the Kirinyaga Governor told medics to go back to duty, terming their industrial action illegal.

“The industrial unrest in the health sector has been ongoing for 5 weeks and has completely paralyzed healthcare services in the counties. A series of consultative/conciliation meetings have been held between the two levels of government and the unions seeking to resolve the pending issues,” she said.

“As duty bearers, we cannot afford to remain silent as Kenyans continue to suffer and in other unfortunate cases, death, due to an unprotected strike and that the doctors have not complied with the court directive. The Constitution defines doctors as essential workers and therefore they are not expected to abandon their stations of duty.”