Striking Nandi Hills tea worker dies after violent confrontation with police

A tea picker was shot dead and two others were seriously injured during a violent confrontation between striking tea factory workers and law enforcement officers in Nandi county Monday night.

More than 60 acres of tea plantation was also set ablaze.

The officers had stepped in to maintain order among striking workers who had threatened to burn down Kapsumbeiywo Tea Factory.

The workers downed their tools to protest low wages.

They accused the management of the factory of failing to effect the remaining 15 percent pay raise as had recently been ordered by a Industrial Court.

The court had awarded the workers a 30 per cent wage increase, with the factories agreeing to implement the directive in two phases.

WORKERS PELTED STONES

Speaking to the Nation, Nandi County Police Commandeered Steveno Kubai said the workers provoked the police by pelting them with stones.

“We acted in self-defence and fired in the air to disperse the workers,” he said.

The injured were rushed to Nandi Hills Hospital, but they could not be attended to as doctors there were on strike.

Mr Kubai explained that the striking tea pickers had initially failed to gain entry to the factory after they were repulsed by his officers.

“They regrouped and returned minutes later and set on fire several acres of pruned tea plantation in Kapsumbieywo and Khartoum owned by EPK Tea Company,” he said.

Western Kenya Plantation and Agriculture Workers Union Joshua Oyuga accused police of using excessive force to disperse the protesters.

Tension is still high in the region, with more officers deployed to the region to guard several tea factories and plantations.