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{
    "id": 1083799,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1083799/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 156,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Godfrey Osotsi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13172,
        "legal_name": "Godfrey Osotsi",
        "slug": "godfrey-osotsi"
    },
    "content": "However, the only thing we could not confirm because the company was not operational then was for us to actually see the employees in those trucks. We could only see the modified trucks. The sixth recommendation is that the management of the Kwale International Sugar Company Limited should provide medical schemes for its workers and ensure compensation for those who have been disabled or injured while at work. The status is that employees access medical services at the company clinic and they also have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) arrangement with Msambweni County Referral Hospital for treatment of its employees. Secondly, the Kwale International Sugar Company Limited continues to sensitise its employees on the requirement, roles, regulation governing the work injury, compensation scheme and the process. Seventh, the company has fully complied with Work Injury Benefits Act, 2007, requirement in terms of compensation of employees injured at workplace. The Committee noted that the company has implemented most of the recommendations of the Report of the Departmental Committee on Labour and Social Welfare, except for the wage arrears arising from non-compliance with the Legal Notice No. 91 of 2015 which had been determined to be Kshs3.69 million. The Committee notes that there is also a pending claim for compensation of work-related injuries totalling to about Kshs5.4 million. The Committee also observed that the company needed time to implement what they had undertaken to do especially on improving employees’ welfare. When we were there, they had indicated to us that they will make further improvements to the welfare of the employees and they required more time to do that. The Committee also notes that the company operations had been stopped for 18 months from June 2018 to November 2019. Further, approximately 4,200 acres of land that was issued to the company by the national Government was occupied by the squatters. The Committee recommends that the company expedites the payment of wage arrears of Kshs3.69 million arising from non-compliance of Legal Notice No. 91 of 2015. The company should also ensure total compliance to the laws and regulations pertaining to employment. Further, the Directorate of Occupation Safety and Health under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection should expedite the process of pending compensation claims to work related injuries totalling to Kshs5.4 million. Further, on squatters living on the company’s land, the Committee proposes that the Kwale International Sugar Company Limited and the local leadership hold dialogue in order to find an amicable solution as the company had expressed willingness to allocate some parcels of land to the squatters. When the late Hon. Member of Parliament (MP), Hon. Suleiman Dori, appeared before us, he alluded to this fact that he had engaged the company on this matter. I also want to state that Hon. Zuleikha who is the County Women Representative of Kwale presented this and she had a lot of challenges with the company, including the company taking her to court. We need to be very clear, as Parliament, that when MPs are executing their duties, they need to be protected so that they can perform their work. When you present a petition to Parliament, you need to be protected as a petitioner and the person being petitioned against should not turn around and start other machinations against you. I am sure Hon. Zuleikha will be able to talk about that. All in all, our role as a Committee is to simply look at the recommendations of the primary committee and find out whether those recommendations have been implemented or not. We do not The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}