Francis Atwoli
Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary General Francis Atwoli has urged Ikolomani Member of Parliament Bernard Shinali to withdraw the unemployment insurance authority bill that seeks to allow employees who lose their jobs receive salary.
Speaking on Saturday at a funeral in Kakamega county, Atwoli said the bill will make life worse for many workers who are already struggling due to the high taxes imposed by the government.
“I want to plead with Shinali to abandon anything related to the employment levy because people’s payslips are being deducted heavily. We don’t have anything left on our payslips,” Atwoli said.
“If we have not yet become economically viable as a country we cannot be able to grow our economy. Kenya Kwanza is now putting a mechanism into place to see whether it can spur economic growth. But before that let us not add another burden to Kenyans.”
Shinali while appearing before the Budget and Appropriations Committee on Thursday said the bill will cushion employees or their kins when they lose their jobs.
“The object of the Fund is to provide benefits to employees who become unemployed or their respective beneficiaries in order to cushion them against harmful socio-economic effects of unemployment,” the ODM explained.
He noted that the money to be contributed to the proposed insurance bill will be paid by the employer and the employees, appropriations from the National government, donations, grants, and funds from counties.
The draft Bill also proposes the establishment of the Unemployment Insurance Authority as a corporate body with a Board comprising a chairperson and nine other members.
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