More pressure on MPs,government as unions plan protests in July

Heat over the controversial 2024 Finance Bill is far from over, with labour unions planning protests on July 7 to rally workers against proposals in the bill.

Former Kenya Civil Servants Union secretary general Isaac Kinity has written to labour unions inviting them to participate in the protests.

The aim of the protests is to pile pressure on the government over what he called illegal statutory deductions on their payslips, Kinity said in Nakuru yesterday.

“We are calling on all unions to lead their members in participating in a mega protest on July 7 if the government will not have scrapped deductions that have been forcefully placed on their salaries,” he said.

Among the deductions the unionist cited is the controversial affordable housing tax.

“In view of this, we are demanding that the government ceases deducting the tax and all the money deducted so far is refunded to the workers,” he said.

Kinity maintained that the government has no  to forcibly deduct the tax from the pay of workers.

“The President or Parliament has no powers whatsoever to force any deductions. In 1997, the Kenya Civil Servants Union successfully challenged the Kenyan government over the deductions of money from the workers towards Harambee (fundraising),” said Kinity.

The government, he said, should have negotiated with representatives of workers in their respective unions first.

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