Raila Odinga Lauds KMPDU For Agreeing To End Strike: "Everyone Should Keep Their End Of Bargain"

• Azimio One la Umoja One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga congratulated the government and the KMPDU after striking a deal to end the doctors' strike
• He urged the two parties to honour their agreement without failure as they are watching on whoever fails to keep their end
• He further called upon the government to learn from the doctors' strike on the failure to honour court rulings and the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)

Azimio One la Umoja One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga has lauded the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists' Union (KMPDU) for ending the 57-day strike.

He welcomed the move by both parties to mutually agree to end the misery of patients who depend on public hospitals.

"Our congratulations to the KMPDU on the successful negotiations with the government leading to a return to work-formula agreed on today. We regret that this agreement came against the backdrop of pain and duress to the public, which could be avoided," Raila stated.

Raila further said it was thoughtful of the two sides to find common ground at long last to the biting doctors' strike.

Raila calls on respecting doctors' CBA

Raila called on both the Kenya Kwanza government and KMPDU to respect and implement the deal as agreed upon.

He called the government to immediately implement the agreement as a sign of commitment and learn from its failures of failing to honour the Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA) and court rulings.

"Now every side must keep its end of the bargain. The government must immediately implement its commitment as proof that it has learnt its lessons on the fault of intransigence and its failure to honour CBAs and court rulings," he further stated.

Raila's warning on failure of doctors' CBA implementation

Raila said as the government puts efforts into keeping their deal, health workers should also follow suit and honour the agreement signed on Wednesday, May 8.

He warned that they will not hesitate to call out the party that will fail to keep the end of their bargain.

"The health workers should also show good faith by honouring their side of the agreement signed today. We are watching and will not fail to call out the party that betrays today's deal," Raila warned.

Government fails to agree on KMPDU interns issue

After signing the agreement to end the doctors' strike on Wednesday, May 8, KMDU Secretary-general Davji Atellah said the government failed to agree on the issue of medical intern doctors.

Atellah said the issue has been left pending until the case in court on the issues surrounding medical doctor interns is finalised.

What you need to know about Kenyan doctors' strike

• Nurses had threatened to join the doctors strike after, the nurses had given the government to meet their demands
• KMPDU had earlier accused the government for showing no interest into their demands, they had threatened to sue the government
• Moses Kuria had said he would write to the executive to have all government employees to be employed on contract after doctors' declined the government's proposal

Proofreading by Asher Omondi, current affairs journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.