Africa-Press – Kenya. The National Senate has been compelled to summon Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) George Kinoti over the mistreatment of Kenyan workers by the Chinese nationals at the Coast.
The Labour committee chaired by Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja through statements released on the Senate social media account on Saturday, October 2, described the disheartening situation on how the seafarers working in the Chinese-owned vessels are mistreated.
The mariners through a statement that was issued by Mombasa senator Mohammed Faki raised their complaints about alleged poor working conditions.
They claimed that they face long working hours, poor diet and are forcefully expected to work three months after the expiration of their contracts.
The committee also heard that there are seven Chinese-owned fishing vessels licensed to fish in the Kenya Maritime borders.
Through their complaints, they claimed that the vessels are violating Maritime Labour Laws of Kenya and International Labour Organization (ILO) laws on Maritime operations.
They further castigated the Chinese Nationals for failing to surrender 30% of their catch as required by the law.
Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) who attended the committee sitting stated they have started looking into the complaints from the Seafarers and are undertaking various initiatives to address their concerns.
To scale up the initiative to address the concerns, the Sakaja led committee resolved to engage DCI Kinoti to get to the bottom of their plight.
Other committee members who attended the meeting at Mombasa County Assembly were Senators Madzayo Stewart of Kilifi, Mwaruma Johnes of Taita Taveta, Mohammed Faki of Mombasa and Nominated Senator Alice Milgo who made the submissions.
These revelations by the senate committee come amidst other reports that Chinese imported fish have continued to fill the market.
Statistics from the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute show that fish production in the lake has plummeted by 50 per cent in the past decade.
This has caused the fish market industry in Lake Victoria to dwindle.
However, Kenya maintained that they are not going to ban China fish imports in the country.
“The challenge we have in the country is insufficient local fish to satisfy the market, and hence you cannot ban imports that fill that gap that we are facing. You only ban when you raise the capacity to produce locally,” Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya previously stated.
