Casual labourers up in arms over delayed dues in Uhuru Park facelift
Janet Nabwera (green overall) a casual worker in Uhuru Park renovation contract gestures during a peaceful demonstration with her colleagues outside Nation Centre, Nairobi on August 25, 2022. The casual labourers are demanding their dues.
Casual labourers who have been renovating Uhuru Park on Thursday tok to the streets to protest lack of payment of dues by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services(NMS).
Led by their supervisor Nahason Mukabane, the aggrieved labourers said they haven’t been paid since May 2022, which has since accumulated to about Sh78,000 per person.
“About 1,000 of us signed contracts with NMS in May 2020 to renovate Uhuru Park. The agreement was that casual labourers would be paid Sh733 per shift, and supervisors get Sh1300,” explained Mr Mukabane.
“However, we are yet to be paid. Every time we ask for payment, we are met with promises that never materialise. We have information that money has been released through the exchequer to clear our arrears, but our In-charge has not disbursed them,” he complained.
“Who is playing with our money? When we ask our In-charge, Christopher Njane, he says he will sack us,” he said.
Ms Janet Nabwera, a labourer, said the lack of payment has devastated her family.
“I am a single mother and the first born in my family. My sick father with kidney failure depends on me to get him money for dialysis. Meanwhile, I have two children and two siblings in school that depend on me. My landlord shut my house for lack of rent, yet these people owe me money,” she said.
Modern facilities
Mr Njane did not receive our calls neither did he respond to out text message.
A member of the NMS Communications team, who promised to get feedback after meeting NMS leaders had also not responded to our text message by the time of going to press.
Renovation of Uhuru Park began in November 2021, aimed at installing modern facilities and amenities previously lacking.
This followed an approval by the Nairobi County Assembly on September 28, 2021, to give the park a facelift.
