{"id":29697,"date":"2026-04-30T17:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/?p=29697"},"modified":"2026-04-30T17:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:01:08","slug":"nyalore-government-and-environment-health-practitioners-union-sign-recognition-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/nyalore-government-and-environment-health-practitioners-union-sign-recognition-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"NYALORE GOVERNMENT AND ENVIRONMENT HEALTH PRACTITIONERS UNION SIGN RECOGNITION AGREEMENT"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Samson Wire<\/strong><\/p>\n

The County Government of Siaya, together with the Kenya Environment and Public Health Practitioners Union ( KEPHPU), yesterday signed the long-awaited Recognition Agreement, which outlines key thematic working areas between the two parties.<\/p>\n

During a meeting involving environment and public health officials, the County Government was represented on behalf of Governor James Orengo by Acting CEO of the Siaya County Public Service Board, Mr. Wilfred Nyagudi; Chief Officer for Health, Dr. Samuel Owino; Director of Human Resource Management, Susan Raba; Acting County Attorney, Leonard Okanda and Director of Public Health, Dr. Kennedy Orwuenjo, alongside public health officials from both the union and the county government.<\/p>\n

\"\"The key thematic areas covered in the agreement include the importance of collaborating with professional public health officers, who are well acquainted with local health challenges and the disease burden arising from major infections. These include Covid-19, which ravaged the country a few years ago and continues to pose serious health risks; malaria, which is prevalent in Siaya and the surrounding region; pneumonia; tuberculosis; and other stubborn chronic infections.<\/p>\n

Mr. Nyagudi urged the union officials to view the County Government as a mutual partner rather than an adversary. \u201cThe negotiations are being conducted in good faith and not as antagonists,\u201d he said. \u201cKey priority areas have already been addressed, and we remain open to any mutually agreed changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his part, Dr. Samuel Owino acknowledged the core tenets of the agreement, noting that both parties would work together to achieve the desired improvements in the working environment for public health workers, as envisaged in the Public Health Act (Cap 242) of the Laws of Kenya. Enacted in 1972 and revised in 2012, the Act serves as the primary legislation for securing and maintaining public health. The Act empowers both the national and county governments, including Siaya, to prevent infectious diseases, control sanitation, and address other critical public health matters, while ensuring a safe working environment for health practitioners and the communities they serve.<\/p>\n

Brian Ashira, Secretary General of the Environment and Public Health Practitioners Union, echoed the sentiments expressed by the county officials. \u201cI want to appreciate the CEO and the entire team present. We have had mutual engagement as partners,\u201d said Brian. He added, \u201cI want to appreciate the County Government for this achievement. As a union, we are negotiating with open minds and hearts. We have had so many table meetings, and I now request that we find a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Acting County Attorney, Mr. Leonard Okanda, concurred with the thematic areas of the Recognition Agreement and called on both parties to give the negotiations a fair chance for the successful management of public healthcare in the county. He highlighted the positive steps taken by the Nyalore administration, including efforts to improve labour relations through collaboration with the Public Service Board, harmonize human resource practices, ensure fair employment, and provide appropriate risk allowances for public health workers.<\/p>\n

The union, on its part, called for the appointment of a substantive County Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO) to oversee health safety and standards for health workers in the county.<\/p>\n

Both parties agreed to continue working together to ensure that the contents of the agreement are fully implemented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Samson Wire The County Government of Siaya, together with the Kenya Environment and Public Health Practitioners Union ( KEPHPU), yesterday signed the long-awaited Recognition Agreement, which outlines key thematic working areas between the two parties. During a meeting involving environment and public health officials, the County Government was represented on behalf of Governor James […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":29698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}