Goon Raids Hospital, Attack Staffs

A dramatic incident unfolded at Nakuru War Memorial Hospital on Friday, marking the climax of a contentious dispute between the hospital’s management and the Nakuru County Government.

The core issue in this feud revolves around the county government’s aggressive move to assume control of the hospital on October 27, citing a land dispute.

According to Nakuru County Government, the hospital’s management is accused of falsifying an extension of the 100-year lease for the land upon which the medical facility stands. This lease was purportedly set to expire in April 2021.

The dispute has escalated to the point where unidentified individuals, colloquially referred to as “goons,” raided the hospital, further heightening tensions between the involved parties. The situation remains a subject of intense debate and concern within the community.

As such, the Nakuru County government forcibly took over the management of the hospital on October 27, 2023.

For one week, the hospital staff had been blocked from accessing the facility.

During this window, patients were transferred to other hospitals while the medical facility remained closed.

However, the Environment and Land Court sitting in Nakuru issued orders allowing the hospital staffers to resume operations pending the hearing and determination of the case.

According to hospital staff, events turned ugly on Friday, November 3 after goons raided the medical facility and started attacking them.

“We have been waiting to get back to work, and we even waited for the OCPD as we were directed by the lawyers, but all of a sudden, people drove in and started lobbying teargas,” one of the staff members told journalists.

According to multiple accounts by hospital staffers, the goons roughed them up and asked them to get out of the hospital.

The gang reportedly drove into the facility using county askari vehicles, dressed in civilian clothes with some wearing masks.

It was after this that the gang members started wreaking havoc at the medical facility including lobbing tear gas canisters in the hospital compound.

They, however, did not hurl tear gas canisters inside the facility.