Kenya - Somalia security wall constructors to down tools for lack of pay

Friday October 16, 2015

The orange line shows the proposed security wall along the 700 kilometre Kenya Somalia border stretch. Photo/COURTESY/GOOGLE MAPS

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Workers who were hired by the government to build the Kenya-Somalia security will down tools on Friday over unpaid salaries.

The workers said they were promised Sh126,000 each when the project started in March.

“We shall go on strike on Friday and return home if we are not paid," a worker who sought anonymity for fear of victimisation said.

“This situation has compromised the lives of our families. Our children are out of school due to lack of fees,” he added.

The workers said their efforts to reach their boss through project coordinator Charles Wambugu have failed.

They said that their children have been kicked out of schools and that they have been living in deplorable conditions and were even attacked by Al Shabaab militants.

“We were taken to the Mandera military camp but we could not fit there and had to be moved to a public works compound where we were attacked by militants,” one of the workers said.

“We were later moved to the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) of the Administration Police and have been living there though not in the best of conditions,” he added.

The wall is meant to secure the Kenyan border from illegal immigrants and shield off Al Shabaab.

It will stretch from Border Point One in Mandera to Kiunga in Lamu county.

In March Somalia had distanced itself from plans by Kenya to construct a barrier wall between the two countries said it was not consulted in the planned erection of the wall

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