Over 300 workers stranded after being kicked out of Moi sisal farm in Nakuru

Over 300 casual labourers and their families are staring at a humanitarian crisis after they were kicked out of their quarters in a sisal plantation in Nakuru.

The farm is associated with Baringo Senator Gideon Moi.

The families are now camping at Makongeni Primary School in Rongai Sub-County after they were kicked out of Alphega Sisal Estate on the border of Rongai and Mogotio constituencies.

For most of the families, this has been their home, having worked for close to three decades at the Mogotio farm.

Learning at the Makongeni Primary School, located inside the farm, has been paralysed since Thursday last week when the workers occupied it.

Their problems started after the workers started demanding two-months’ salary arrears.

But they were instead dismissed through letters served to them on May 18.

FORCED OUT

The workers, however, declined to vacate their quarters on the farm until the night of June 1, when they were forced out together with their families.

Last week, the entire camp where they had been residing was shut down and everybody evicted from the farm.

The Nation team confirmed the crisis at Makongeni Primary School, where children could be seen playing.

Utensils, mattresses and other belongings were stacked under trees.

According to the workers, the belongings are what they managed to salvage when tractors ran over their houses on the night of June 1.

Efforts to reach the plantation’s management were futile.

A human resource officer who picked up calls disconnected immediately after he realised he was talking to a reporter.

ORDERED TO VACATE SCHOOL

The affected workers said that a DO visited the school on Sunday and issued them with a notice to vacate the school as children were expected to report to school on Monday.

Earlier in March, the employees held a demonstration over the pay dispute and other labour-related issues.

The Nation learnt that Mr Moi acquired the farm from a Greek settler, a Mr Harry Horn, around 2001-2002 and subsequently inherited the workers.

The settler owned the entire sisal estate, which comprises what was known as Banita farm, now a settlement scheme, Majani Mingi, Lomolo, Athenai and Alphega, the last of which was acquired by Mr Moi.

Raymond Komen, a local leader and aspirant for the Rongai seat, condemned the eviction and urged the government and human rights groups to urgently intervene.

“This issue is so grave because these people know no other home. It raises labour issues because they have not been paid their dues yet they are being forcefully [evicted],” he said.