Kenyan doctors are on day 74 of their ongoing strike to demand the implementation of a 2013 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Principal Secretary Nicholas Muraguri has apologized for being perceived as the main antagonist in the historic strike, denying claims that he is the major reason for the deterioration of negotiation talks between the government and striking doctors.
Earlier this week, Central Organisation of Trade Union Secretary General Francis Atwoli accused Muraguri of inciting doctors to take a hard-lined stance. Atwoli threw in the towel on Monday, February 13, in moderating negotiation talks between the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Union and the Ministry of Health to end the 74-day strike.
Atwoli stated,
"The hard line stance they took seemed unnatural to me and on digging deeper, I discovered there were more deep-rooted problems in the ministry than were laid out by the striking doctors. These negotiations were made difficult by the Health PS who did not support the mediation process,"
The Cabinet Secretary of Health, Cleopa Mailu, also said Muraguri made things difficult during the negotiation for being insubordinate. According to Mailu, as quoted in the Daily Nation on Wednesday, February 15,
"We could not agree on the appointments of a team from the Ministry to participate in the negotiations spearheaded by court-appointed mediators to resolve the stalemate. Muraguri opted to not lead the ministry representatives and instead, left for other activities,"
Muraguri apologized for his perceived insubordination, stating
"I apologize for the perception that I was not working well with my boss. We did discuss the matter of my not leading government officials in the negotiations despite his claims that we did not discuss the change of names on who will lead,"
Mailu accepted the apology, acknowledging that they both have a responsibility to steer the ministry forward. This apology comes hours before the Court of Appeal reversed a decision to jail KMPDU officials for a month.
The recovered account cited reporting by Tuko.
