Health crisis is unfolding in Nairobi, as health workers took to the streets on Thursday, October 2, demanding months of unpaid salaries and warning that the county’s already strained healthcare system is on the brink of collapse.
The workers marched from Jevanjee Gardens to City Hall, hoping to confront Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja over what they described as “broken promises” and a worsening financial mess that has left them unpaid for three months.
“We are tired of being lied to,” said a visibly emotional Malindi Chao, Secretary of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), Nairobi branch. “We are the backbone of this city’s health system. But how do you expect us to serve patients when we can’t even afford to take care of our own families?”
Their demands were simple: pay the salaries that are long overdue. But what they got instead were locked gates at City Hall and no sign of the governor, who was attending a separate event at the Kenya School of Government in Kabete.
According to the protesting medics, Sakaja has consistently ignored their pleas, despite a series of agreements signed in good faith agreements the workers say the county has repeatedly failed to honor.
“We keep hearing that the Exchequer hasn’t released funds, or that the money sent isn’t enough,” said Stephen Muthama, chairperson of the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) Nairobi chapter. “To us, those are just excuses. The bottom line is this: we need our salaries. We’ve earned them.”
But it’s not just health workers who are feeling the pinch. Just two weeks earlier, on September 18, county workers across departments staged a go-slow, citing similar salary delays.
A memo issued by Calvince Okello, Nairobi branch secretary of the Kenya County Government Workers Union (KCGWU), urged staff to stay home or reduce their work pace until their pay is processed.
“The county made a commitment on August 11 to pay by the 5th of every month,” Okello noted. “As of mid-September, that promise had already been broken.”
The delayed payments have had real-life consequences. Many staff say they can’t afford basic necessities including transport to work. Some report borrowing money just to get to their stations, while others have stopped showing up entirely.
With health workers now fully downing their tools and other county employees threatening prolonged industrial action, Nairobi’s essential services from hospitals to public sanitation are hanging by a thread.
As pressure mounts, the big question remains: Will Governor Sakaja act before the crisis spirals further out of control? For now, the people of Nairobi wait sick, unpaid, and unheard.
