NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 24 – The Kenya National Union of Nurses and Midwives (KNUNM) has issued a seven-day nationwide strike notice to nurses and midwives working in county health facilities, warning that services will be withdrawn from 12:01 a.m. on July 29 unless the government resolves long-standing labour disputes.
The notice significantly escalates the crisis in Kenya’s public health sector, coming as doctors and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) workers continue to push for the implementation of collective bargaining agreements and employment commitments.
In a statement issued Thursday, the union said it had formally notified the Ministry of Health, the Public Service Commission, the Council of Governors (CoG), the Ministry of Public Service, Human Capital Development and Special Programmes, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, and all 47 county governments of the planned industrial action.
KNUNM said years of negotiations had yielded little progress, accusing government agencies of failing to honour agreements and protect the rights of nurses and midwives.
“If the relevant authorities fail to address our collective bargaining rights and other demands highlighted in the strike notice within the next seven days, a total nationwide withdrawal of nursing and midwifery services will commence on 29th July, 2026, at 00:01 AM,” the union said.
The union added that all concerned government institutions had acknowledged receipt of the strike notice and could no longer claim ignorance of the issues facing healthcare workers.
KNUNM cited several unresolved grievances behind the planned strike, including failure to conclude the 2025–2029 Centralized Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), failure to implement the 2017 Return-to-Work Agreement, delayed transition of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) staff to permanent and pensionable terms and continued delays in implementing agreements affecting nurses and midwives across county governments.
The union said it had negotiated with the government in good faith for years but had repeatedly encountered broken promises and administrative delays.
On the contentious UHC programme, KNUNM acknowledged Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, Parliament and other national institutions for facilitating the allocation of Sh8.6 billion to absorb UHC workers.
However, it accused county governments of failing to receive the payroll and issue permanent and pensionable appointment letters despite the funds having been allocated.
The union further claimed it had received information that the Ministry of Health had returned the UHC payroll to the Department of Medical Services after assigning the workers permanent and pensionable status.
KNUNM urged the ministry to retain the payroll permanently and deploy affected staff to national referral hospitals facing acute shortages of healthcare workers.
The strike notice comes amid an escalating dispute between the national government and county governments over responsibility for implementing the UHC transition.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has maintained that the Ministry of Health fulfilled its obligations by securing funding and transferring the payroll to facilitate the workers’ absorption.
According to Duale, employment and deployment of UHC workers are constitutional functions of county governments, and governors should complete the transition in line with existing agreements.
However, the Council of Governors has rejected claims that counties are responsible for the impasse.
Speaking on Thursday, CoG Chairperson Ahmed Abdullahi blamed the national government for recurring health worker disputes, arguing that delayed funding and administrative bottlenecks had prevented counties from implementing key agreements.
On the ongoing doctors’ dispute, Abdullahi said county governments had no disagreement with the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), revealing that implementation of doctors’ CBA salaries had been delayed for a year while counties waited for a special payroll code from the Ministry of Public Service.
“We have absolutely no issue with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union, the KMPDU. Beginning August, next month, we will start paying doctors the CBA rates as agreed,” Abdullahi said.
“For one year, we were waiting to get a special code from the Ministry of Public Service to allow us to pay the doctors the agreed rates in the CBA. We’ve just obtained it. We will pay.”
Abdullahi also dismissed accusations that governors were frustrating the absorption of UHC workers.
“If national government respected all the agreements that we have had with respect to UHC, there will be no UHC worker out there in the streets demonstrating or striking,” he said.
The Health Unions Caucus has also intensified pressure on county governments over the delayed absorption of UHC workers.
Its chairperson, Peterson Wachira, accused governors of failing to implement the transition despite Parliament approving funding for the exercise.
“Despite ourselves having demonstrated for more than six months and gotten a budgetary allocation… the governors have refused to do so,” Wachira said.
“It is very clear that it’s the County Public Service Boards that are supposed to do this.”
With nurses now joining doctors and UHC workers in threatening industrial action, Kenya’s public health sector faces the prospect of widespread service disruptions unless the national and county governments resolve the dispute over labour agreements, funding and the transition of UHC workers.
