🌍 No Breaks To Catch

Happy Tuesday! Today, the 9th of July marks the 13th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of South Sudan, the youngest country in the world.

While this may sound like a call to celebrate your annoying lastborn, if you failed to get them candy on Children’s Day, then it is that.

— Chibuike Uzor, Tayo Davies

Medical interns protest outrageous delays in finding hospital jobs.

It’s protest season in Kenya, and everybody wants a piece of the pie.

Following months of protests and strike action about the drastic reduction in pay for medical interns, doctors have retaken to the streets of Nairobi, this time to protest the excessive delays in assigning them to hospitals.

According to a Collective Bargaining Agreement reached in 2017, the Ministry of Health is mandated to post newly licensed doctors to assigned hospitals within 30 days. In reality, most new doctors do not get posted years after completion of training. This has led (unsurprisingly) to a wave of depression among young clinicians who stay at home for prolonged periods of time and earn little when they get employed.

The Kenyan government can’t seem to catch a break.

This most recent wave of protests latch onto the wavy trend of openly and loudly expressing dissatisfaction against the unfriendly policies implemented by the Ruto-led administration:

• The country came to a total halt in June as a large number of protesters flooded the streets of Nairobi to oppose the finance bill.

• Kenyan doctors embarked on a 56-day national strike in March, asking the government to increase salaries and hire more doctors.

• Kenyan President William Ruto hosted Kenyans on an X space this past Friday, giving them a chance to air their concerns. One listener unceremoniously dropped an F-bomb on him.

Cut ‘em some slack: While Kenya seems to be the low-hanging fruit for controversial press, South Africa still struggles with posting its medical interns. Recent budget cuts have made the country unable to afford its own doctors.

Looking ahead. With the finance bill scrapped and sweeping budget cuts announced by President Ruto earlier this week, analysts predict Kenya may be headed in the right direction, provided even more budget reforms and cuts are made within the coming weeks and months.