Police teargas contractors demanding pay from Tana River County govt

Administration Police officers have fired tear gas canisters to disperse rowdy contractors camping outside the gate of the Tana River County Government offices in Hola Town.

The contractors, who have been complaining of delayed payments, have been camping inside the county offices since Tuesday, but officers manning the gates today locked them outside the gate.

In retaliation, the contractors collected huge stones and placed them at the gate, barring vehicles from entering or getting out of the compound.

Irked by the scenario, a group of baton-wielding county enforcement officers (askaris) charged at the protesters and removed the stones, but the contractors regrouped and charged at the askaris with sticks and stones.

The AP officers providing security at the county government offices called for reinforcement and within no time, a contingent of officers arrived in a Land Cruiser and started exploding tear gas canisters.

The move worked, but the contractors have now vowed to hold a peaceful demonstration against the county government’s finance department, which they accused of deliberately delaying their payments.

This is after the contractors chased away officers at the county’s finance department and occupied their offices on Thursday in an incident in which AP officers roughed up journalists and snatched a camera from a Kenya News Agency journalist as they covered the contractors’ protest.

The camera was later returned to the journalist after County AP Commander Mark Kirwa ordered his officers to do so.

WATER AND FOOD

The county announced Wednesday that it had redirected it's resources and activities to provide water and food for its residents following a crisis brought about by a prolonged drought which has hit Tana River.

The water crisis has affected about 100,000 residents in the expansive county who have to trek hundreds of kilometres in search of water for their cattle, and for domestic use.

The county government says is now spending Sh4 million daily to deliver water to the affected residents daily, and buy food.

Thursday, Governor Hussein Dado urged the n‎ational government to move in start buying livestock from owners who are unable to get markets for their animals and to enable them get money to feed their families.

"The cows are growing weaker by the day," Governor Dado told the Nation. " I appeal to the national government to also put Tana River in the livestock buying program, because it is the worst hit by the crisis," he added.

Mr Dado appealed to the protesting contractors to be patient and allow his government to deal with the emergency.

He promised that as soon the crisis was alleviated, they would all be paid.

"We have been paying on time and without failure. We are faced with an emergency and we are asking for some patience. We will pay," he said.

On Friday, the contractors claimed that only their politically correct colleagues were getting payments while some had waited for their pay for as long as three years.

“We are tired of being tossed to and fro after we completed the work we were given. The annoying thing is that some people who were awarded contracts recently have already received their payments,” one of the contracts told the journalists before the fracas.