Barely two months after calling off a nationwide strike, nurses are back on the streets.

This is despite signing a collective bargaining agreement with governors and the Ministry of Health in December.

Part of the deal was that nurses in job group M and above would get Sh15,000 in special allowances while those in job group G to L would receive Sh20,000 every month.

Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) secretary-general Seth Panyako said on Thursday some employers were yet to keep their part of the bargain.

“We agreed that members would go on strike if any hospital fails to effect these payments by the end of January,” he said.

The union said the strike by nurses at the Kenyatta National Hospital was justified because “the government has disbursed funds to counties but some are refusing to pay nurses”.

Lily Koros, the chief executive officer of Kenyatta National Hospital, said implementing the agreement could take up to two months because nurses were changing union membership.

She added that the hospital had not been notified of the strike.