KENYA: IT IS HIGH TIME WORKERS STARTED ADDRESSING AND SOLVING THEIR OWN PROBLEMS

KENYA SOCIALIST WEB SITE

01/04/2005

By George Mwamodo

Much has been said and written about workers and conditions of work in Kenya. There are organized workers and non-organized workers. Those who are organized belong to the myopic trade unions and those who are not, are at the mercies of unscrupulous employers. Millions are in the informal sector, which is currently employing the largest number of Kenyans, but these workers are voiceless, ignored and look upon nature for their strength and daily living.

It is important to take stock of the happenings in the world of work with a view to finding out why some people are more of workers and others are less. If laws are put in place, there must be human force to make them have some mobility. It is utterly useless to legislate for purposes of denying others their very rights or for purposes of strengthening profits of some greedy people in positions of control.

Our Parliamentarians are more of ‘robbers’ and masters than servants of the people. Our Parliament has come out clearly as an institution of wealth acquisition rather than service delivery to the people. The Narc government including all our MPs made promises to bring change in Kenya, but lo and behold, all changes have and are going into their pockets.

It is now over forty years since Kenya broke off from the yoke of colonialism. On this note, it is important to mention the significant role played by workers in the struggle for independence. Though all Kenyans were united under the banner of solidarity by then, when freedom was achieved, those who took leadership positions forgot the suffering they underwent with their colleagues and instead reneged them to the backbenches. This is when the Kenyan worker started suffering.

Partying with agents of exploitation

The suffering of workers are so real as you walk through plantations, factories and many manufacturing outlets. All workers in Kenya are looking forward to the day they will be liberated not from colonial rule this time, but from oppressive employers and agencies who dine and wine with multinationals and corrupt trade union leaders at COTU while the workers themselves suffer.

To dine and wine with any person of your choice is not sinful but my concern is why should you party with agents of exploitation of workers when you were elected to safeguard the interest of workers? Why should you dine and wine because you want some favours that you know very well will bring suffering to the very people who elected you in office? This is the genesis of the suffering of workers in Kenya! Their representatives have sold them out!

The current government has promised to rid the country of corruption but I should mention here that the labour sector is one of the most corrupt institutions due to the dirty support it enjoyed from the previous dictatorial regime.

Corrupt ministers will fight it out to the bitter end and if progressive forces don’t unite, Kenyan swill colonise their own brothers and sisters. Power is so close to hearts of men and women and letting it go without seeing any reason, is a mountain to overcome.

An institution like COTU is a good example where those in leadership can only be removed by sickness or death due to undemocratic Constitutions which are in place. To remove the current Secretary General, one must deposit Ksh 2 million. What dose this mean? This is to ensure that no ordinary worker living on a worker’s wage can contest against the Secretary General of COTU. This is the height of dictatorship and control of who becomes the boss of Worker’s organizations in Kenya.

Kenyan workers have never been involved in distribution of wealth

The same Constitution says that each union must have more than 3,000 registered members to become Cotu’s affiliate. This article of the Constitution is being breached with impunity as almost all previous Secretary Generals have come from Unions which do not have more than 3,000 members due to lack of capacity to recruit.

George Odiko, Assistant Secretary General, is at COTU illegally. He does not lead any Union after he was defeated by Kihu Irimu. These are people who do not respect the wishes of workers but have continued to force themselves on workers as leaders.

Francis Lumasayi Atwoli, current COTU Secretary General was only selected by the former Kanu regime after a meeting in Nakuru State House. The purported election in Eldoret in 2001 was a cover up, waste of time and worker’s money. Officials had already been picked and planted on various seats but Kenyans were taken for a ride. Those who were opposed to Atwoli’s leadership, by then, were all put in buses in Nairobi and taken to Lake Bogoria on grounds of collecting their allowances before the elections. Elections were in Eldoret! While at Bogoria, the buses sped off and left them there only to be picked after conclusion of the election. Atwoli is at COTU illegally and does not have any mandate to speak in the interests of workers.

Kenyan workers have been denied their rights by all. We are talking of slaves in their own land. The rate of poverty is unbelievable yet workers are the producers of the country’s wealth. They have been denied any voice on how their wealth is to be distributed. If workers are the wealth producers in any country, then they have every right to oversee and supervise how that same wealth should be distributed. If they are not doing that, then they must retreat and ask themselves why is that happening.

Workers in Kenya have never been involved in the distribution of the wealth they produce but have left this important task to the looters who are not committed to their plight. An institution like COTU is more of a museum piece which provides historical anecdotes because it has no capacity or teeth to bite. The unusual thing at COTU is that leadership has never been based on quality neither are there any parameters in place on who should lead COTU. This being the case therefore, sycophants, and other recycled renegades have found their way to positions of leadership. The result has been tremendous suffering of workers who are fundamentally living on starvation wages.

And if this is the case, has anything been done to remedy the situation? Has anything been done to bring hope to the hopeless? Has anything been done to bring salvation to millions of workers in Kenya who are mistreated, abused, misused and reduced to slaves and animals of the wild? The answer is a clear No. .

Workers should identify themselves with a radical ideology

Trade unionism in Kenya must be re-invented as a prerogative measure. If the worker is to change his way of living, all forces of reason must come together and denounce the current crop of compromised misfits and malcontents at COTU.

Without workers there would be no nations. Without workers, there would be no development and everything would grind to a halt. Leaders who constantly put policies in place are workers. Those in charge of security are workers. The spacecraft pilots and navigators are workers. Then why are some workers suffering with no hope for the future if all of us are workers? Workers have what it takes to bring change. There is no government that has ever stood on the way of the force of workers. Realising the immense potential workers have, there is need to move in solidarity as the only weapon to achieve the dignity stolen by leaders.

In Kenya and due to lack of a sound social security, plantation workers have no time to rest to enjoy life like other workers in different organized countries. They must spend all their lifetime working to be able to meet their basic needs and somehow provide to their dependants. Many drop dead like flies due to sicknesses and unprotected working conditions. Hiv/Aids is a force that must be halted before it wipes out the proletariat. Workers are exposed to all dangers yet nothing is being done.

It is only workers who can solve their problems immediately they identify themselves with a radical ideology that can drive their interests.

The writer works for Labour Awareness and Resource Centre (LARC) in Kenya.

Published by Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance (KSDA)
email: harakatips@hotmail.com

Home