By Anchor Writers

The standoff between Machakos County Government and striking nurses has escalated after the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN), Machakos Branch, flatly rejected fresh instructions to resume work.

In a strongly worded letter to the Chief Officer for Medical Services Rashid Kala dated August 11, 2025, KNUN Branch Secretary Michael Saka accused the county of failing to recognize designated or appointed officers, neglecting to define their terms of engagement, and ignoring their daily operational needs.

The union dismissed an internal memo from the county ordering nurses to report back to duty, describing it as unlawful and contrary to labour laws.

“Your office has never issued any letter to the said designated officers… It goes against ALL LABOUR laws for your office to allocate them extra duties with no form of compensation,” the letter states.

KNUN invoked the Employment Act 2012 and the Kenyan Constitution, stressing that every employee’s rights to fair employment terms and to join a union are protected by law. The union further reminded the county that the right to industrial action is constitutional and cannot be curtailed through internal memos.

“Reduce the sideshows and sort what our strike is all about,” Saka wrote, adding that the strike remains legally protected and will continue until all demands are met.

The nurses’ grievances include lack of formal appointment letters, absence of clear job descriptions, failure to facilitate their daily duties, and denial of due compensation for extra work.

The strike, now entering its sixth day, has left county health services in paralysis, with able patients in several facilities vacating wards for other hospitals. A survey by our writers witnessed crowded private hospitals as a result of the strike.

The Machakos County Government has  yet to issue a public response to the union’s latest statement, with Governor Wavinya, being seen last dancing at the devolution conference in Homa Bay County.

The standoff signals a deepening crisis in the county’s health sector,among others, unless an urgent resolution is reached.

The union was reacting to memos sent to senior medical staff by Mr Kala, ordering those on leave to resume work to resuscitate health services across all county hospitals.

Incidentally, the so called senior staff do not have appointment letters designating them as such and the County government has been unwilling to redesigned them accordingly to avoid the attendant financial burden.

This situation leaves those staff performing management duties at the level of unionisable workers, hence the response from the union.” That is the reason we are on strike.There is no document committing the county to the alleged management staff status. We are not prisoners. We will return when the administration keeps its commitment, ” said a nurse who declined to be named.
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