President Uhuru Kenyatta has increased the minimum wage by 18% to cushion low-income earners from the cost of living. Speaking during the Labour day celebrations held at Uhuru Park in Nairobi, President Uhuru Kenyatta said the government knows the struggles of Kenyans “We understand your daily struggles and are working hard to tackle these challenges,” said President Kenyatta, “We know for two straight years we haven’t increased the minimum wage, and after consultations with key stakeholders, I’ve directed that the minimum wage be increased by 18 percent.”
He said that employers may be concerned about the increased wages, and he has therefore directed the Cabinet Secretary for Industrialization to convene a meeting with stakeholders in order to look for ways to cushion the employers from costs associated with non-labour factors. The president also said that they’ve increased the non-taxable bonuses and overtime to Ksh 100,000.
He said that his administration’s task is to ensure that they develop a growing economy that produces good jobs in large numbers and improves livelihood as well as opportunity, “That’s why we are aggressively pursuing a transformative strategy to ensure rapid social economic development.” He cited road developments, the building of the Standard Gauge Railway, expansion of ports and airports, rapid lowering of barriers to trade and investment, insistence of improving the quality of education as examples of the building of a prosperous economy.
