CS Mutua to Shut Down Companies not Paying Six Percent Minimum Wage Increase
Labour cabinet secretary Dr Alfred Mutua accompanied by Principal Secretary Shadrack Mwadime (Right) and the General Manager Mombasa Continental Resort Mike Kamau (Left). (Photo By Mwakwaya Raymond)
By Harrison Kivisu & Mwakwaya Raymond
Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com
Labour cabinet secretary Dr Alfred Mutua has threatened to shut down private companies that have failed to pay six percent minimum wage increase directive of October 9, 2024.
The CS, while addressing Sub-Saharan Africa skills and apprenticeship stakeholders network (SASASNET) conference in Mombasa, asked Kenyans to report any company which had failed to increase their wages as par government directive.
“It’s important that our people are not slaves. I call upon Kenyans that if you are working in a company that has not increased to please talk to us and that company will be in trouble with me,” he said.
The government gazetted the new wages for general laborers in the country in line with the six percent minimum pay increase in 2024 as signed by President William Ruto.
According to him his ministry will crack the whip soon on all those defaulting the increment.
He says companies in the private sector who have defaulted the law, will be dealt with including withdrawing their operation licenses or shutting them down.
“If the government has agreed with employers, and labour unions and president has declared, and the ministry gazette that is a law, so tafadhani nawaomba muniambie, kama minimum wage is not met, tuambie, kuna kampuni Fulani tutafunga, kuna watu kadhaa tutaambia wachana na hii biashara, wafanyikazi wa Kenya pia wapate haki yao.”
The minister said the ministry was reviewing why the Kenya domestic workers sector in Saudi Arabia violations had been persistent despite the efforts made to streamline the sector.
The government, he added, had deployed a new attachee in Saudi Arabia in the quest to address the matter of violations that normally get reported by Kenyan domestic workers in the country.
He dismissed a report by Amnesty International that indicated how many Kenyans were suffering in Saudi Arabia.
According to him the government is concerned why other sectors have no problem while domestic workers have had perennial complaints.
“As a government we are reviewing what is happening with domestic workers, why is it that there is no problem with other sectors, and its only one sector, we can’t demonise countries like Saudi Arabia where many workers are working there in other sectors.”
At the ongoing high level meeting in Mombasa, Kenyan delegates called for curriculum review to align training skills with the requirements of job markets so as to bridge the gap between the school and the place of work.
Grace Wahome, representing the federation of Kenya employers chair Jacqueline Mugo, said the conference sought to seal the gender equity and equality gap in the formal and informal employment sector.
The CS was speaking during the SubSaharan Africa Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network (SASASNET) conference in Mombasa County.
This year’s theme is “transforming apprenticeship systems in the informal economy and for the youth employability in Africa”.
