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East Africa

Photo Courtesy Daily Nation

 

Kenya is seeking billions of shillings to purchase guesthouses and luxury vehicles for visiting presidents and other dignitaries, underlining the burden of running the country’s foreign affairs on taxpayers. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the acquisition of the guesthouses is aimed at cutting reliance on five-star hotels and guaranteeing availability of accommodation for the foreign dignitaries.

It also plans to splash additional millions on limousines and other high-end cars for local travel of what it calls VIP State guests.

This will add to the growing burden of running the Foreign Affairs ministry, which is spending billions of shillings to host Kenyan diplomats in foreign capitals.

The ministry did not disclose the budget for the guesthouses and luxury vehicles in the plan tabled in Parliament for MPs’ review.

"The ministry seeks to acquire suitable guesthouses for high-level dignitaries visiting the country. This will cut costs of hotel accommodation and ensure there is always availability of accommodation and reduce dependency on hotels," says Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo in a report to Parliament.

"This will also ensure security and confidentiality."

The government spends millions of shillings on reception and entertainment of visiting State guests in top-notch hotels.

For instance, a night for a presidential suite at Villa Rosa Kempinski costs about Sh1.74 million ($15,000) and a premium room goes for KSh 578,500 ($5,000) per night in the same hotel, according to rates posted on the website of the luxury hotel. By Edwin Mutai, Daily Nation

Photo Courtesy A A

 

KAMPALA, Uganda 

Persistent rains that started on Friday have displaced 800 families so far in eastern Uganda, according to authorities on Wednesday. 

The police in Kween district said that Ngenge sub-county and Sundet sub-county in Kween district have been greatly affected by the floods that left over 2,000 people from 800 families homeless.

The floods also destroyed 1,000 acres of planted maize, sorghum, and beans and killed a lot of livestock.

"Apart from destroying homes, the floods have killed an unspecified number of chickens and goats and I don’t know what will happen since the rains are still continuing," local council secretary for Ngenge sub-county, Joel Cherop, said in an interview.

Bena Chemutai, one of the village's health team members in Ngenge sub-county told Anadolu Agency that the situation is "terrible" and the affected people are now staying in classrooms and verandahs of schools.

"We have fears that many children are likely to fall sick from malaria since they are sleeping in the open without mosquito nets," said Chemutai.

Albina Awor, the chief administrative officer in Kween, has appealed for support from the office of the prime minister.  Source: Anadolu Agency

 

The Kenyan government has declared a month-long dusk to dawn curfew in the northern Marsabit County following a spike in insecurity.

Interior Minister Fred Matiang'i, while announcing the curfew, said security agencies have been deployed to rid the region of illegal firearms.

"Effective from 6:00 p.m. on May 2, we have placed the whole of Marsabit County under curfew to be followed by an operation to rid of illegal guns causing havoc there. Leaders in the area are urged to cooperate," he said.

"We must get all illegal firearms from that place. We will stay there until the job is done," he added.

In recent months, dozens of people have been killed in the region, with the attacks attributed partly to herders who were searching for pastures for their livestock during the dry period.

In February, President Uhuru Kenyatta asked the region’s leaders to provide a community-initiated strategy to stop the conflicts, failure to which the government would deploy security agencies with strict instructions to forcefully end insecurity in the county. - CGTN

 

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission of Kenya (IEBC) says it is suspending the second phase of the Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) drive which has been ongoing to enroll citizens’ biometrics since January.

The reason for the halt is to enable voters to verify their biometrics and other data on the Preliminary Voter Register which has been compiled by the IEBC.

The Star reports that the announcement was made recently by the Chairperson of the IEBC Wafula Chebukati in a gazette notice in which he called on all registrants to check if their data was properly captured at the time of registration. The suspension is due to take effect from Wednesday 4 May, per the report.

Citizens have until 30 May to verify their records on the voter roll, but the voter registration suspension will be in place until March 13, 2023, according to The Star.

Kenyans go to polls for general elections due to take place on 9 August 2022.

Speaking on the matter, the IEBC boss was quoted as saying: “The commission notifies the pubic that this suspension is to enable availability of the register of voters to the public for purposes of verification of biometric data and particulars of registered voters in accordance with sections 6A of the Elections Act, 2011.”

According to Chebukati, all those who applied to have their names enrolled on the voter register but their biometric data was not appropriately captured, will have the opportunity to channel a complaint to the Registration Office before 30 May for correction.

The second and final phase of the Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration in Kenya started in mid-January with calls for the IEBC to make the registration campaign more inclusive.

The biometric technology used in the process is provided by Idemia. - Biometric Update

President Uhuru Kenyatta, Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli (on his left) at Nyayo Stadium during the Labour Day celebrations on Sunday, May 1, 2022
Image: CHARLENE MALWA 

Kenyan workers had a reason to smile during this year’s Labour Day celebrations after the government increased the minimum wage by 12 per cent.

President Uhuru Kenyatta made the announcement on Sunday while presiding over Labour Day celebrations at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi. 

The lowest paid workers will now earn KShs 1,620 more, which pushes the minimum wage to KShs 15,120.

Before the increase, the minimum wage was KShs 13,500 and the figure had remained the same in the last three years.

Uhuru noted that there has been a hike in the cost of living with inflation hovering around 5-6 per cent annually.

He said his administration fully appreciates “the critical contribution Kenyan workers have made to the economy during very difficult times.”

“As a caring government, we find there is a compelling case to review the minimum wages so as to cushion workers against further erosion of their purchasing power while also guaranteeing competitiveness of our economy,” he said

“I declare an increase of minimum wage by 12 percentage points with effect from 1 May 2022,” he stated.

This year’s event was marked under the theme: Job Creation, Peace, and Sustainability.

It was the first time the fete will be held in public after the Government lifted the strict Covid-19 regulations.

There were were fears to miss out on a pay raise for the fourth year in a row after recent talks between trade unions, Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE), Labour Ministry and Central Organisation for Trade Unions (COTU) collapsed.

Workers through their trade unions have been pushing for increased wages, but FKE had been insisting the government should first allow the economy to recover.

The government last announced a five percent increment in the minimum wage to cushion workers against inflation in 2018. 

COTU secretary general Francis Atwoli said workers were expecting an increase of the minimum wage by 23.4 per cent.

“From 40 per cent, we negotiated and settled at 23 per cent. Please give workers that increment,” he said.

Atwoli further accused the Salaries and Remuneration Commission of being an impediment to better pay for workers.

“The SRC was established to play an advisory role and not set wages for workers. Employers and workers bargain collectively freely and fairly. They engage in give and take but the SRC then comes in to say no,” he stated.

He added that SRC has been undermining free and independent collective bargaining between employers and workers.

Federation of Kenyan Employers Executive Director Jacqueline Mugo said the state of the labour market continues to remain fragile with enterprises remaining closed while others struggling to get back to full operation.

She noted that a recent tripartite meeting of FKE, Labour Ministry and COTU failed to reach an agreement on minimum wage “due to the extreme challenges facing the labour market.’

“Employers understand the hardships workers are facing. However, employers seek wage structure that not only protects the lowest paid workers but also increases productivity and is economically sustainable,” she said.

“We take note of the high cost of living that is making life hard for us and certainly for those at the bottom of the scale”

Mugo asked the government to address high cost of fuel, disruptions in supply chains of essential commodities, low food production and unfavourable tax regime.

“We ask the government to revise income tax bracket and the tax relief to support low income earners. The tax bracket could be raised to lets say KSh 35,000 and tax relief increased to KShs 3,500 per month,” she said.

Uhuru further order Labour Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui to gazettes COTU’s nominee to the NSSF Board, Rose Omamo, on Wednesday.

“I order you, after the long holiday, I want to see that gazette notice. I am not requesting, mine is an order. It is COTU that requested”

Atwoli had appealed to the President to intervene and have Omamo gazetted saying wokers needed a representative at the board. By Allan Kisia, The Star

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