Kenya court jails doctors over strike

Hellen Wasilwa, a Kenyan judge, has ordered that leaders of the national doctors’ union should be jailed for one month.

Doctors in public hospitals have been on strike since December 5 to protest working conditions in public hospitals, among other issues.

A court had ruled that the strike was illegal in December and in January, Wasilwa sentenced the union leaders to jail for ignoring her earlier ruling.

The sentence was later suspended to allow room for negotiations.

On Monday, she “resumed the order” and said the union officials should be arrested.

“This court decides to resume its order sentencing the applicants to a one-month jail term,” she said.

In reaction to the ruling, medics in white gowns and surgical caps, took to the streets, blowing whistles and chanting.

Kenyan university lecturers are also striking over pay.

The Kenya medical practitioners pharmacists and dentists’ union had previously warned that the jailing of union officials might spur doctors in private hospitals to also join the strike.

The union, which has about 5,000 members, wants the government to implement a deal agreed in 2013.

The deal requires the government to give doctors a 300 per cent pay rise, review their working conditions, job structures and criteria for promotions and address under-staffing in state hospitals.

The government has said it can only afford a 40 percent pay rise.

Resolving the strikes will be a key test of president Uhuru Kenyatta’s leadership ahead of the country’s elections scheduled for August.