Raila’s daughter wants Kenyans to pay house helps Sh50k a month
Cord leader Raila Odinga’s daughter has come under heavy criticism on social media for being out of touch with the economic reality facing most Kenyans.
Amid the harsh economic times, Winnie Odinga had called on Kenya’s middle class to pay their house helps a monthly salary of sh50, 000, a proposition that elicited rebuke on social media.
Winnie Odinga’s proposition, posted on Facebook on Wednesday, was a reaction to criticisms leveled against her father who has been leading weekly demonstrations in the city centre to push for the removal of IEBC commissioners.
‘STOLEN VOTES’
In her post, she argued that the people who join Cord leaders in the demonstrations are angry Kenyans who believe that their votes were stolen (in the last general election) and are forced to work long hard hours with little pay.
“Do you think that by making your children call her “auntie” and letting her have Sunday off to go to Church is a satisfactory way of living for her? As you sleep until 8am and she’s up at 6 waiting in the cold for the Makini bus to pick your children up while her’s walk an hour in this torrential rain to go sit in a dusty classroom , did you expect business to always be as usual for her?
“Middle class Kenya needs to wake up. Every time you pay someone less than 50,000 shillings a month you are responsible for creating a home in the slum. Surprised? Or did you think 12,500 would afford your house help a chalet in Muthaiga? A lady in Mukuru kwa Njenga, Mathare, Kangemi, who believes her vote was stolen is 100% capable of reasoning that this electoral commission must go,” read the post on Facebook.
The rant was posted on her younger brother, Raila Odinga Junior, Facebook account.
MINIMUM WAGE
Kenyan house helps are paid between sh3, 000 and sh6, 000 depending on their work experience. Attempts by the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotel, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (Kudheiha) to have a minimum wage for domestic workers have often been ignored.
The government last year published new regulations setting the minimum wage for domestic workers, but which were also largely ignored by households. The legal by Labour Secretary Raychelle Omamo granted domestic workers in Nairobi a monthly salary of Sh10,954
In her post, Winnie Odinga expressed how ‘fed’ up she was on the way ‘Kenyan middle class’ attack the ‘lower class’.
She termed as a ‘misconception’ the notion that demonstrators who take to the streets are ‘commanded’ to do so by politicians.
REACTIONS
The post has sparked a whirlwind of reactions from Kenyans, with some calling her a ‘brat’ and a reflection of the mentality of the rich.
Douglas Mwirigi Maingi said; “This post is a disgrace both to you and whoever you’re campaigning for..it reflects high class idiocy and a spoilt brat mind kind of thinking….FYI house helps are not even paid 10000 which to you is not enough…their employers are the ones earning the 10&12K you’re disdaining. So unataka nichukue loan ndio nilipe house help 50k nikilipwa 10K ama.. The book you recommending Kenyans to read portrays a self centred, gluttonous, power hungry man…I rarely waste my time flipping along pages of such bigotry books.”
Rosemary Wangu Wasya said; “Most Kenyans including those in white collar jobs earn below 50000. Most have obligations and it doesn’t mean that they are comfortable paying their caregivers little money. It’s just what they can afford. I sincerely wish our opposition or any other leader would go rioting about PAYE, increased cost of basic household commodities, how traffic can be discongested, better health care, street families. ..The list is endless. Until then shall I be concerned about election matters. I’m neither pro – government neither antigovernment. But we need leaders who speak right into the common man’s needs and not their own needs.”
