Narc Workers Riot Over Unpaid Salaries
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The East African Standard (Nairobi)
December 23, 2003
Posted to the web December 23, 2003
Maore Ithula
Nairobi
Riots yesterday rocked the National Rainbow Coalition offices as workers lit bonfires on the road to demand their salary arrears.
The workers at Mwenge House, the nerve centre of 2002 Narc campaigns, removed tables and chairs from the offices and used them to fuel the fires on Ole Odume Road, blocking traffic.
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The usually quiet Lavington area of the city in which the offices are located witnessed riotous scenes as the workers protested.
Police later arrived and hurriedly put out the fires as the workers mingled with curious onlookers and left the scene.
The employees say the ruling coalition, to which President Mwai Kibaki belongs, owes them eight-months salary arrears amounting to Sh13 million.
Their spokesman, Mr Moses Wadagwa, said they had been forced to take to the streets "after diplomacy and dialogue with Narc secretariat failed".
He vowed that they would resume the strike today.
An accountant at Mwenge House, who declined to be named, admitted that Narc owed some 50 employees money.
The situation, he added, was compounded by the fact that the coalition had also not paid provincial and constituency co-ordinators, as well as nomination panellists since it came to power.
Three long tables and a number of plastic chairs were still burning in the road as smoke engulfed the area when the East African Standard team arrived.
The workers also set up roadblocks using building blocks from their compound.
The workers, who also burned cards inviting them to the Jamhuri Day luncheon at State House, complained that the party had failed to recognise their contribution to the election victory last year.
They said that they snubbed the invitation and instead sent a representative to petition the President over their plight.
As some stoked the fires, others were stationed strategically at the junctions of Argwings Kodhek and Oloitoktok roads to divert traffic.
Motorists who defied the diversion were repulsed by the workers who hurled stones at them.
The 4pm incident caused a snarl-up of traffic on both Argwings Kodhek and Oloitoktok roads stretching for kilometres on both sides.
Kilimani police boss GM Miigwa led a team of officers to inspect the offices but did not find anybody inside.
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Miigwa said he could not make any arrests because it was hard to identify those involved in the incident.
Wadagwa said efforts to meet the Narc Summit chairman, Vice-President Moody Awori in the last three months had failed after a secretary at his Jogoo House offices refused to give them an appointment.
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