Kenya Nurses End 41-Day Strike After KSh13,000 Allowance Deal

Kenya’s nurses have ended a 41-day nationwide strike after reaching an agreement with the Council of Governors (CoG) on allowances, with union officials directing nurses to return to work immediately.

The Kenya National Union of Nurses and Midwives (KNUNM) announced the suspension of the strike on Wednesday, 9 September, following a lengthy meeting with the CoG. Union Secretary-General Seth Panyako formally called off the strike, citing the union’s constitution and the Constitution of Kenya. He instructed nurses to resume duty immediately or within 24 hours to restore services in affected health facilities.

“By the powers conferred on me by the Constitution of the Kenya National Union of Nurses and the Constitution of Kenya, I hereby declare that the strike that commenced on the 29th of July 2026 is hereby called off,” Panyako said.

The strike began on 29 July and disrupted healthcare services across the country for more than five weeks. Doctors and other medical staff were left to manage the increased workload as nursing services were affected.

Nurses had staged sit-ins at CoG offices earlier in the week, demanding action on their grievances before agreeing to return to work. Their main demands included higher risk and uniform allowances, which they said did not adequately reflect the conditions faced by frontline health workers.

The CoG agreed to increase the risk allowance by KSh8,000 and the uniform allowance by KSh5,000. The changes will raise the combined allowances by KSh13,000.

CoG chair Ahmed Abdullahi confirmed the agreement, saying the health committee had reached a deal with the union. He expressed hope that the agreement would remain in place until it was formally signed.

The settlement also reduced the risk of a separate strike by the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), which had threatened industrial action in solidarity with nurses. Doctors had warned that the continued absence of nurses was placing excessive pressure on medical staff and increasing risks to patient care. 

The agreement therefore allows nursing services to resume while reducing the immediate prospect of further disruption in the public health sector. Nurses’ return to work is expected to restore services in hospitals and other public health facilities affected by the strike. The implementation of the agreed allowance increases will now be central to maintaining the settlement between the union and the government.