OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN

Press Briefing

Good afternoon,
We appreciate your presence today. There are two major issues to
raise today.
Kenyans can look forward to the resumption of more normalized
medical services in public health institutions following yesterdays
developments. First, the Resumption of Duty Agreement between the
National Government, County Governments and the Kenya National Union
of Nurses, which was signed on Sunday 11th December 2016, and ratified
yesterday. Secondly, the Recognition Agreement between the Kenya
National Union of Nurses and the Council of Governors, which was signed
yesterday, Wednesday 14th December 2016. The recognition agreement
paves the way for County-level discussions on the Collective Bargaining
Agreement to begin in January 2017. Indeed, Government is especially
thankful to note that nurses began returning to work on Friday 9th
December last week and a vast majority up to 70% of them had resumed
their duties by yesterday. We appreciate these individuals for their
reasonable engagement, their goodwill, compassion, and dedication to the
oath of their calling. We wish to echo the relief of Kenyans as Nurses have
now fully resumed duty.
Having said that, The Ministry of Health remains committed to
constructive dialogue between all the relevant component agencies of good
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governance including the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, The

Council of Governors, The Ministry of Labor, The National Treasury and
the Office of the Attorney General in order to reach a practical solution to
grievances raised by the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and
Dentist Union. We challenge Doctors to engage in these discussions in
good faith and demonstrate solidarity with the less fortunate in our
society, who find themselves in the miserable situation of requiring
medical services in spite of their own innocence and prayers for good
health.
We also urge the doctors to be sufficiently civil and fit within the law
of the land by honoring the court order issued by the Employment and
Labour Relations Court on Tuesday 12th December 2016, which found the
ongoing strike to be illegal, and noted that a continuation of the strike
would constitute a contravention of employment contracts.
As Government, we have dealt generously with KMPDU despite the
fact that the strikes are pre-emptive of the due process of arriving to a
consensus in industrial disputes. While Government remains committed
to the negotiations, we strongly maintain that it is repugnant to use
innocent human lives as a bargaining chip.
Progress of IEBC
From the onset, I wish to reiterate that the Government remains
seized of the urgency with which the task of appointing new
commissioners and releasing the current ones must be executed. In
respect of this, we have been monitoring the work of the selection panel
and we wish to update the public of the progress made so far.
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The selection panel began interviewing the 36 candidates originally

shortlisted for the role of IEBC commissioners on Thursday December 1st
2016 and the process is ongoing. Following the re-advertisement of the
IEBC Chairperson position on 26th November 2016, five applicants were
shortlisted for consideration out of 22 applicants. Names of the five
persons most recently shortlisted for the Chairperson position were
published on December 9th 2016. Interviews are scheduled to take place
on 19th and 20th December. The National Assembly has scheduled a
special sitting on 20th December 2016, to approve 9 names for prospective
commissioners and two prospective Chairpersons which will be forwarded
to the President for consideration. The President will thereafter select six
commissioners and one Chairperson from the list and send the names
back to Parliament for approval.
The Government looks forward to a smooth transition within the
current to the new Commission to allow the August 2017 elections to
proceed according to schedule. The Government also notes that the IEBC
needs to continue to function in order for the August 2017 election to be
realized. Current IEBC commissioners continue to hold office to satisfy a
legal requirement to avoid a constitutional crisis. The public needs to
know IEBC is an institution constituting of multiple departments and
operations that extend well beyond the duties of the nine commissioners
and Chairperson. The Government is convinced that the existing checks
and balances within and outside the institution suffice to allow the IEBC
to credibly carry out the day to day operations that allow it to continue
fulfilling its constitutional mandate.
Kenyans from all walks (both individually and collectively) are at
liberty to raise any issues or concerns they have with the selection panel,
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the IEBC reconstitution process, or the operations of the IEBC through the
legally provided avenues. Ultimately, Kenya is a constitutional democracy,
in which independent institutions and groups must be given the room to
carry out their functions, and in which legal mechanisms for redress
against grievance exist. The Government therefore appreciates the right of
all Kenyans to legal recourse on any matter, but abhors action and
rhetoric that creates fear among citizens, or constitutes a threat to social
stability and security for all.
Indeed, that brings me to my final point and one which I will not tire
of reiterating as the elections draw nearer. We as Government are
committed to a peaceful pre-election, election and post-election period.
We therefore continue to assure Kenyans that agents of violence bent on
the destruction of Kenya by violation of the right of any citizen to freewill,
freedom from fear and intimidation, freedom to own and enjoy the
proceeds of property, freedom of movement, the sanctity of life and all
other fundamental rights and freedoms will have to overcome the full force
of the law.
We urge all Kenyans to be vigilant to the mongers of hate speech in
all its forms and loudly reject any kind of incitement to violence, in the
lead up to the next general elections, by particularly offering evidence for
their prosecution.
We will now take your questions.

E ric Kiraithe (MBS)

GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN
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