Families set to bury their kin at the Lang’ata cemetery were on Wednesday, September 20, 2023, forced to wait for long hours after police used teargas to disperse protesting Nairobi County contract workers who had been employed to tidy up the graveyard.
Staging their protest at the cemetery’s entrance, the workers complained that they had not received their salaries for five months despite the fact that they had been diligently carrying out their duties.
According to the Lang’ata sub-county police commander Monica Kimani, officers took action to disperse the protesters after they started burning tires near the Lang’ata police station’s entrance.
Kimani said the workers defied advice to take their complaints to the Nairobi County Governor’s office in the city instead of causing unrest in the area.
Meanwhile, the workers have vowed to keep the Lang’ata cemetery’s gates closed until they receive their money, urging citizens who seek to bury their loved ones to return home or seek other alternatives.
“Governor Johnson Sakaja has been taking us rounds anytime we request this money,” a worker who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
When contacted for comment, Nairobi County Secretary Patrick Analo dismissed the claims that Governor Sakaja lied insisting that their payments were hampered by the county’s budget cycle.
“I am speaking after instructions from the Governor. Nairobi County government care. We are on course and we will pay the 77 labourers working in the cemetery who were retained 6 months ago to tend to the ground and improve the aesthetics. Let me apologize that they have not been paid to date,” Analo said.
The county Secretary said the process has been completed and the request for money has been launched and approved.
“It is just a matter of time and they will be paid by next week. It’s unfortunate that they protested today and closed the cemetery, obstructing those who wanted to bury their loved ones,” he said.
