NAIROBI, Kenya -- After a new wave of protests by Kenya's doctors -- now including those in the private sector -- the Court of Appeals on Wednesday released seven imprisoned doctors' union officials and ordered them back to the negotiating table.
The officials had been given one-month sentences for contempt of court in connection to the monthslong strike by Kenya's public hospitals over unkept government promises for wage increases.
The officials are now free, pending the appeal of Monday's ruling to jail them.
After their jailing, Kenya's medical association, which is separate from the public-sector union, urged all health professionals to withdraw their services to protest the ruling.
A majority of private hospitals shut in solidarity. The closings, on top of the 75-day strike by public hospitals, left Kenyans almost entirely without any form of health care.
During the court proceedings, which stretched into the early hours of the morning Wednesday, striking doctors dressed in white gowns and surgical caps marched through the streets protesting the imprisonment of their colleagues.
"We do not want money. We want the Collective Bargaining Agreement to be implemented," some chanted in front of Parliament, the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Finance.
The doctors are demanding the fulfillment of a 2013 agreement between their union and the government that would raise their pay and improve working conditions.
The agreement was to give them a 300 percent pay rise, review their working conditions and criteria for promotions, and address understaffing in state hospitals.
The dispute between the government and the doctors has taken a political angle, with the opposition taking the opportunity to accuse Kenya's president of not doing enough to stop the rampant corruption in the country.
In October last year, Kenyans were outraged when local media reported that an audit had revealed that more than $50 million was missing from the Health Ministry.
The scandal came to light just days after President Uhuru Kenyatta expressed frustrations about the fight against graft in his government.
The strike has affected all public hospitals, leaving Kenya's health system in tatters and people dying if they can't afford private health care.
After the court ruling, a team from Kenya's Bar Association and the National Commission on Human Rights was mandated by the court to lead mediation efforts between the government and the doctors to end the stalemate.
The 2013 agreement involves boosting doctor salaries by 300 percent -- which the government now says violates the rules for civil service compensation.
A Section on 02/16/2017