The Cabinet Secretary for Labour Ukur Yattani who also appeared before the committee assured Senators that remedial measures have been taken to ensure no one is being victimized admitting that there have been challenges between locals and Chinese due to a language barrier/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 18 – The Senate Labour Committee has given Kenya Railways Management two days to submit the necessary contract between them and China Roads and Bridges Corporation (CRBC) that outlines terms and conditions for their employees.
This is after the Kenya Railways Acting Managing Director Philip Mainga appeared before the committee led by Senator Johnson Sakaja without all the documentation he was requested to provide.
Mainga was invited to shed light on alleged victimization of Kenyan employees at Standard Gauge Railway.
“We need to get to the depth of this, Kenyan employees feel excluded at the SGR and that Chinese are more valued than them. Please let us get the contracts in 48 hours or even sooner if possible,” Sakaja requested.
Mainga however denied allegations that Kenyans were being mistreated at the SGR saying all the employees are given equal opportunities and more Kenyans are enrolled for training.
“The working atmosphere has been improved and Kenyans are well treated contrary to what has been reported. The only issue is that most of them have no prior experience to work there but they are being trained and soon they will be at the same level with the foreign workers,” said Mainga.
He further stated that the management paid attention to all the issues raised and necessary actions have been taken to ensure all the employees feel comfortable at their workplace.
The Cabinet Secretary for Labour Ukur Yattani who also appeared before the committee assured Senators that remedial measures have been taken to ensure no one is being victimized admitting that there have been challenges between locals and Chinese due to a language barrier.
“The company has a detailed Human Resources policy manual which guides its operations. However, there are some trials in implementation and compliance which need to be addressed,” he outlined.
The Senators urged the Kenya Railways management to focus on the Chinese learning English instead of Kenyans being forced to learn Chinese in a bid to deal with language barrier among the employees
There have been allegations that Kenyan employees are paid less than Chinese employees and that they are discriminated based on colour as well as having a separate canteen from that of Chinese where food is way much different.
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