City slum youth demand Waiguru’s resignation over unpaid wages
National Youth Service workers on Monday demonstrated in Nairobi, protesting against the Devolution ministry’s failure to pay them on time.
The protest, which ended at Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru’s office, comes at a time when the minister is in the spotlight following her admission that Sh791 million had been lost at the NYS.
As the youth demonstrated, Jubilee legislators Maina Kamanda and Joy Gwendo came to Ms Waiguru’s defence.
The protesters from Mukuru Kayaba slum carried placards with messages about alleged corruption in the Devolution ministry, which they claimed was the reason for its failure to pay them on time.
“We cannot be working for them without being paid. This is the eighth week without pay. How does the ministry expect us to survive?” some of them said outside the Nation Centre.
They called for Ms Waiguru’s resignation.
Thousands of the city’s youth have been employed as casual workers on NYS projects, for wages paid every two weeks.
Last week, Ms Waiguru released 21 names of officers in her ministry and NYS whom the Director of Criminal Investigations named as being responsible for the loss of Sh791 million through questionable payments.
Speaking in Kibera on Sunday, Cord Leader Mr Raila Odinga said the President was protecting Ms Waiguru from the law and that the investigation was selective.