Nurses oppose changes in union rules before polls

A section of nurses have vowed to oppose any changes in the constitution of Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) ahead of polls.

They want Seth Panyako, the Knun secretary general, to adhere to a circular issued by Registrar of Trade Unions regarding execution of national union elections scheduled for next year.

Officials meet

Some union officials drawn from various regions on Friday convened in Machakos where they accused Panyako of attempting to employ unorthodox means to extend his time in office.

“Since its inception, the union elections process has been contentiously managed. Allegations abound in the nursing fraternity of the general secretary’s cherry-picked candidates constantly winning against those not favoured by him,” said Halima Adan, who is the secretary general of Knun, Machakos chapter.

The nurses claimed the recently convened special governing council meeting in Isiolo on October 23 was unprocedural.

“The meeting constitutes the latest attempt at both subverting the will of nurses and forcing the widely rejected changes in the constitution. The membership is not willing to accept any tweaking of the process to please a few individuals against the wishes of the majority,” Adan said.

Panyako, however, dismissed the allegations, terming them childish.

“Those are childish manners and behaviour of a few individuals who have no mandate to speak for the nursing fraternity in this country. I have more serious issues to handle relating to the welfare of nurses and not address individuals who want to use women power to climb to leadership,” Panyako told The Sunday Standard in a telephone interview.

But the nurses maintained they will not allow any alteration to the provisions of the current constitution.

“We shall not allow a Draconian constitution to be registered as it denies the members a fair right to contest the various positions as required by the Labour Relations Act, Section 34 part 2a, b” she added.

The nurses claimed Panyako issued ‘unclear’ notice regarding the scheduling of both national and branch elections.

“Union elections are usually announced every five years by the Registrar of Trade Unions for all trade unions and that has already been done.

But our secretary general immediately issued another notice towards our elections but the notice was not clear about when national and branch elections are to be held,” she said.

Review attempt

The nurses further took issue with the special governing council meeting held in Isiolo which they claimed was intended to review the existing constitution to favour Panyako’s re-election.

“There has been a process to review the union’s constitution and over the years, we have had disagreements with the general secretary because he wants a constitution for himself. As nurses, we want a constitution which is member-driven, and not one which will have someone stay in office forever,” said Aden.