TRADE UNIONIST MOVEMENT ANGERED BY GOVERNMENT'S NEGLIGENCE OF WORKERS PLIGHT
Kanini Evans Kariuki
September 28, 2009
THE Tailors and Textiles Workers Union (TTWU), yesterday expressed displeasure over the government´s failure to address the plight of workers in Kenya, and charged that they were wallowing in great misery despite previous pledges by leaders to have their situation improved.
Addressing the press, the union´s Secretary General William Muga Aketch, and the organizing secretary Francis Muthuri, lamented that the Coalition government had failed Kenyan´s for regarding workers apathetically.
They regretted that in their manifestoes, the leaders had promised workers a better deal particularly during the electioneering period, but this was not the case since not a single motion had been raised in Parliament to have the situation of workers updated.
Aketch and Muthuri stated that during the campaigns, leaders of all political parties were promising job creation for the youth, but it was unfortunate that what had emerged was the direct opposite since acute unemployment was still biting.
The trade unionists told the press that it was unbelievable to see hundreds of Kenyan´s dying of hunger in the drought-stricken areas, as a privileged and overfed group of few watched indifferently.
There was drought in some areas of Kenya–people and animals dying at the same time, but nobody was concerned, Aketch and Muthuri further lamented.
"We have very rich people in the country, but they cannot assist our suffering brothers and sisters yet they voted them to Parliament. They have banked money in accounts abroad, leaving poor Kenyans dying helplessly", Aketch stated.
He went on:
"My question to President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga is simple. How easy is it to erect an oil pipeline from Mombasa to Mbale, and how difficult is it to tap water from Lake Victoria to the drought-ravaged areas?"
Aketch contended that in the face of the government´s apparent indifference to the myriad of difficulties facing Kenyan´s, one was left wondering whether the citizenry were divided between a class of the haves and that of the have-nots.
Aketch and Muthuri asserted that during the 2007 campaigns, politicians were regularly visiting the drought-infested regions promising heaven to the local inhabitants, but all of them had since turned a blind eye to their suffering as the polls were over.
The duo explained that their roles as trade unionists was defined within a specific law, and was not tailored to the societal behavior or actions, in response to questions by Journalists as to whether they would ape the civil society in calling for demonstrations to force an improvement in the workers plight.
"What we are saying is that let us make an integrated approach to have the plight of the suffering seriously addressed and solved once and for all", stated Aketch.
He appealed to the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU)-the umbrella workers body, to urgently convene a meeting of all its affiliates to donate food to those dying in famine-stricken areas.
"Even if it was to donate an infinite small amount of foodstuffs, Cotu should make a move and hold a meeting", demanded Aketch.
He also sounded an impassioned plea to the international community to chip in quickly with assistance to the hungry and drought-hit victims, before the situation rolled out of hand.
At the same time, Aketch and Muthuri asked what Agriculture minister William Samoei Ruto was doing to address the burning issue of the availability of cheaper seeds and fertilizers, in the face of the fact that the planting season was at hand.
They also expressed concern that production costs had shot up astronomically, scaring away investors.
"If, indeed we care about employment, we must also take care of manufacturers industries, lest we become a trading nation rather than a manufacturing country", Aketch and Muthuri indicated.
The mushrooming of the so-called exhibition shops, the trade unionists further pointed out, eloquently demonstrates that what is stocked in these shops is all imported, and not locally produced.
"This serves to explain that Kenyans cannot get jobs after school since there are no industries, while the existing ones have cut costs drastically due to high production costs", Aketch concluded.
Addressing the press, the union´s Secretary General William Muga Aketch, and the organizing secretary Francis Muthuri, lamented that the Coalition government had failed Kenyan´s for regarding workers apathetically.
They regretted that in their manifestoes, the leaders had promised workers a better deal particularly during the electioneering period, but this was not the case since not a single motion had been raised in Parliament to have the situation of workers updated.
Aketch and Muthuri stated that during the campaigns, leaders of all political parties were promising job creation for the youth, but it was unfortunate that what had emerged was the direct opposite since acute unemployment was still biting.
The trade unionists told the press that it was unbelievable to see hundreds of Kenyan´s dying of hunger in the drought-stricken areas, as a privileged and overfed group of few watched indifferently.
There was drought in some areas of Kenya–people and animals dying at the same time, but nobody was concerned, Aketch and Muthuri further lamented.
"We have very rich people in the country, but they cannot assist our suffering brothers and sisters yet they voted them to Parliament. They have banked money in accounts abroad, leaving poor Kenyans dying helplessly", Aketch stated.
He went on:
"My question to President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga is simple. How easy is it to erect an oil pipeline from Mombasa to Mbale, and how difficult is it to tap water from Lake Victoria to the drought-ravaged areas?"
Aketch contended that in the face of the government´s apparent indifference to the myriad of difficulties facing Kenyan´s, one was left wondering whether the citizenry were divided between a class of the haves and that of the have-nots.
Aketch and Muthuri asserted that during the 2007 campaigns, politicians were regularly visiting the drought-infested regions promising heaven to the local inhabitants, but all of them had since turned a blind eye to their suffering as the polls were over.
The duo explained that their roles as trade unionists was defined within a specific law, and was not tailored to the societal behavior or actions, in response to questions by Journalists as to whether they would ape the civil society in calling for demonstrations to force an improvement in the workers plight.
"What we are saying is that let us make an integrated approach to have the plight of the suffering seriously addressed and solved once and for all", stated Aketch.
He appealed to the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU)-the umbrella workers body, to urgently convene a meeting of all its affiliates to donate food to those dying in famine-stricken areas.
"Even if it was to donate an infinite small amount of foodstuffs, Cotu should make a move and hold a meeting", demanded Aketch.
He also sounded an impassioned plea to the international community to chip in quickly with assistance to the hungry and drought-hit victims, before the situation rolled out of hand.
At the same time, Aketch and Muthuri asked what Agriculture minister William Samoei Ruto was doing to address the burning issue of the availability of cheaper seeds and fertilizers, in the face of the fact that the planting season was at hand.
They also expressed concern that production costs had shot up astronomically, scaring away investors.
"If, indeed we care about employment, we must also take care of manufacturers industries, lest we become a trading nation rather than a manufacturing country", Aketch and Muthuri indicated.
The mushrooming of the so-called exhibition shops, the trade unionists further pointed out, eloquently demonstrates that what is stocked in these shops is all imported, and not locally produced.
"This serves to explain that Kenyans cannot get jobs after school since there are no industries, while the existing ones have cut costs drastically due to high production costs", Aketch concluded.
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