Uhuru raises minimum wage by 14 percent

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By Standard Digital Reporter
NAIROBI, KENYA: President Uhuru Kenyatta announced a 14 per cent increment on minimum wage during labour day celebrations.
He said this would help cushion workers from high cost of living. He at the same time said the government has come up with a raft of strategies to create employment and boost the morale of Kenyan workers.
President Uhuru said the government was looking at reducing the cost of basic commiodities such as food and medicine, and strengthening the micro small and medium enterprises to create more jobs.

“One of our key strategies is to grow the economy by double digit, this is possible if we have a vibrant human capital that is productive,” said President Uhuru. “We are looking at programms that would expand and strengthen the micro and small medium enterprises to employ our youth, the sector has become a key player in job creation,” the president noted.
He said the government would protect local jobs and only outsource to experts where need be. “My government would ensure that unskilled jobs that could be done by locals are not given out to foreigners, this would ensure that we create more jobs to the youth, current rate of unemployment is 70 per cent.”
The President said the government was working on an alternative dispute resolution mechanism to ease local courts of baggage that in many occassions have led to delay in dispute resolution. He appreciated role of diaspora in building the economy and said a special unit to deal with the workforce abroad will be created.
Deputy President William Ruto said the government is looking at new engagement with the workers to grow Kenya’s economy to a double digit. “Human capital will play a critical role to our manifesto that emphasises on growing the economy to a double digit, we are going to have a new way of interaction with workers, performance is important,” he said
Key areas the government would focus on includes making life affordable by increasing food production to ease prices, coming up with a comprehensive universal medical scheme, and working on reducing interest rates.
“Food alone take upto 40 per cent of worker’s salary, we need to produce more food for affordability, we are looking at introducing new farming techniques, better seeds and fertilisers to make farmers produce more,” he said.
Speaking during the occassion, COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli urged the government to avoid privatization. He said the government should focus on restructuring its corporation to safeguard jobs in the entities.
“Government should not go the privatization way, we have seen many Kenyans rendered jobless in these exercise,” he said.