Workers of a pipe-making company in Kiambu have appealed to the government to investigate their employer over delayed salaries.
They also want the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and Industrialisation CS Aden Mohamed to find out if Polypipes East Africa Limited has been remitting deductions to the relevant organisations, including the Kenya Revenue Authority.
Efforts to get a response from the manager failed. He said he could not comment and immediately left and locked himself in a boardroom to the disappointment of the protesting workers.
"Why are you not speaking to journalists?" a worker asked him as he fled.
The angry staff alleged that they have not received their salaries for the past six months. They stopped working in protest and said no senior staff cares to address their plight.
Duncan Muthungu said only one manager and several supervisors come to work but no one tells them when they will be paid.
"We want the government to come and investigate this company. We only receive payslips, indicating our salaries, deductions of NHIF and NSSF, but they do not remit anything in our accounts," Muthungu said.
The company, located on the outskirts of Limuru town, produces waste and electric pipes, both plastic and rubber, among other pipes used for construction.
Francis Njuguna said he has been working for the company for 20 years, but there have never been such times when salaries are delayed for this long without explanations.
Njuguna adds that they suspect the company wants to close down as the management has ordered the watchman not to register workers coming inside.
"This is very bad. We suspect the company wants to close down silently with our money," he said.
"We want the government to assist us to get our money. We have families to feed, school fees to pay, rents and other expenses we want to meet."
Njuguna appealed to the DCI and Mohamed to ensure they are paid.
(Edited by F'Orieny)
