President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced a five per cent rise in the minimum wage to cushion workers against inflation.
“In recognition of the good work done by our workers and cognizant of the 4.8 per cent rate of inflation this year, I hereby declare a corresponding 5 per cent increase of minimum wage,” President Uhuru said in his speech read by Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani during this year’s Labour Day Celebrations at Uhuru Park on Tuesday.
The President however noted that Sh100 million was lost due to several work strikes and boycotts last year. He called on workers unions to adopt a more consultative approach to avoid similar occurrences in the future.
“As a result of various strikes that took place during the past one year; the country recorded a loss of 100 million man-hours which is a matter of grave concern for a developing nation like ours,” Kenyatta said.
“To ward off such unfortunate situation in the future, the time has come to commit to structured dialogue to overcome the challenges that we all face,” he added.
He assured that the government was committed to achieving sustainable economic growth that would create more jobs for Kenyans.
“I urge all tripartite partners in labour administration to take the lead in achieving a structured dialogue. By so doing we shall be acting in the context of this year’s labour the: Let’s Reason Together for Sustainable Economic Growth and Job Security,” he said.
