Business activities in Kendu Bay Town have been disrupted by county government cleaners protesting over salary delays.
The protestors dumped waste on the streets to protest the delayed payments.
Police who were called in to control the situation fired in the air to disperse the crowds, even as one of the ring leaders of the protestors was arrested.
Police arrested the man believed to be the mastermind behind the dumping of waste. The officers fired in the air as some traders tried to prevent the arrest
The cleaners accused the Homa Bay County government of staying mum on the issue of delayed salaries.
“I have been a cleaner in Kendu Bay for many years. We have not received salaries over several months with no explanation from the county government,” said Moses Owili.
The group also protested over allegations that there were plans to replace them with another set of cleaners.
Another cleaner, George Akal, claimed he had not been paid for months without any explanation.
“We are issuing an ultimatum to the county government to pay us within three days, failure of which we shall paralyse activities in the market,” Akal said.
The aggrieved cleaners threatened to push traders not to pay revenue to the county government until their grievances are addressed.
The market chairperson Sarah Adhiambo said the situation is likely to affect local businesses, adding that traders wanted to operate in a clean environment.
She also raised concern over low revenue collection in the town. “This matter should be solved as soon as possible. Traders are stranded and cannot operate in a dirty environment,” he said.
The County Executive for Environment John Agili attributed the problem to pending bills, explaining that the county government had contracted an individual whose company offers cleaning services.
Agili said the company had not been paid, which delayed salaries for cleaners.
“The company abandoned the contract along the way over pending bills,” he said.
He explained that the county government had to employ casual workers directly. “We can persuade our casual workers to clean the town. They can do this whether they are paid or not,” he said.
The County Executive said his office was liaising with the finance department to pay the company that was contracted to clean the town.
He said the firm had agreed to continue deploying its workers to clean the town.
By Davis Langat
