This archive report was first published on 14 November 2019.
On November 14, 2019, the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nyeri fined two officials of the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Sh10,000 each for contempt.
Dr Ouma Oluga, the union's secretary-general, and Davji Bhinji Atella, the South Rift branch secretary, were found guilty of disobeying court orders requiring them to call off a strike by Laikipia doctors in June 2019.
Dr Atella was sentenced in absentia, as he was said to be in Egypt at the time of the hearing. He had been summoned to appear in court on November 12, 2019.
Dr Oluga apologized for his actions, stating that he was a first-time offender and would never disobey court orders again. He claimed that, according to the union's constitution, calling off a strike required a vote from the National Advisory Council.
However, Justice Nzioki wa Makau disagreed, stating that the union's constitution was contrary to the law and that the court could not shy away from its responsibility to deal firmly with those who disobeyed its orders.
The court had previously ordered the suspension of the Laikipia doctors' strike on June 14, 2019, but Dr Oluga and Dr Atella failed to comply, leading to contempt proceedings being filed by the county government.
