Kenya's ambassador to the US, Mr Robinson Njeru Githae, in his office in
Washington, DC. Mr Githae has denied claims that they contravened
contractual agreements with Mr Jafred Musamba and Mr Joseph Asweto.
PHOTO | BMJ MURIITHI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Two former employees of the Kenyan embassy in
Washington, DC have accused the ambassador to the US, Mr Robinson Njeru
Githae, of wrongfully dismissing them from the consulate.
In an exclusive interview with the Nation
and in a letter addressed to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Mr Jafred Musamba and Mr Joseph Asweto argue that
their two-year contracts have not expired.
RETIREMENT AGE
In the letter to ambassador Macharia Kamau, they ask the ministry to intercede so they are reinstated.
In termination letters issued on August, 24, 2018, the embassy says the two were dismissed after attaining retirement age.
“Records
held in this office indicate that you attained the retirement age of 60
years on January 1, 2015. In accordance with Section D.21 of the Human
Resources Policies and the Procedures Manual for the Public Service and
Local Staff Regulations, one is required to retire from the service on
attainment of the retirement age,” the letters seen by the Nation state in part.
The
complainants, however, denied the embassy’s claim that they were fired
because they reached age 60, saying 65 is the official age of
retirement.
They did not deny that
they are at least 60 years old. In this claim, they seem to be using the
US retirement requirement, whose age is 65.
The
complainants say: “In any case, our contracts bear no clause stating
the retirement age. The embassy has therefore violated the two-year
contracts which expire in October, 2019, by summarily firing us as if we
had committed a criminal offence."
Mr Musaba and Mr
Asweto, who were hired locally, further argue that the ambassador used
civil service policy manuals to get rid of them yet they are not civil
servants.
FAIRNESS
Reached
for comment, ambassador Githae dismissed the claims and insisted that
the embassy did contravene any contractual agreements with the two.
“The
truth is that the people we let go, including the two gentlemen, were
supposed to have retired a long time ago. In fact, Mr Asweto came here
after retiring from the civil service at home so he should be enjoying
his retirement benefits," he said.
Mr
Githae further said the US State Department recently issued a memo
requiring all embassies and commissions accredited to the US not to
employ local staff for more than five years.
Foreign
missions apparently have two categories of employees— those from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Nairobi and others seconded
from key ministries, and those sourced locally.
Mr Musumba, Mr Asweto and another female employee, who were axed recently, are those who were sourced locally.
Mr
Githae said: “As you may already know, apart from attaining the
retirement age, the two gentlemen were also the longest serving. It was
only fair to start from the top down."
The ambassador
also dismissed claims by the two that he fired them in order to employ
his relatives, noting that their positions are being advertised openly.
“If
you go to our website, you will see their positions advertised. We will
conduct a fair and open recruitment process for these positions,” he
said.
RETIREMENT NOTICES
Asked
whether they sought legal counsel, Mr Musamba and Mr Asweto said they
wanted to bring the issue to the attention of Mr Kamau in Nairobi first.
“First
of all, we are appealing to the ministry headquarters to intervene
before it goes that far. Secondly, we need to be heard, especially by
the ministry headquarters, which should come to our rescue because we
did not deserve this. Even if it was a normal retirement, there’s always
a notice to retire in a year. This was not followed,” Mr Asweto said.
Regarding notices of retirement, ambassador Githae said he issued a memo alerting the two of their impending retirement in July.
The complainants had worked at the embassy for more than 20 years.
There
seems to be discrepancies in the terms of locally engaged staff at the
Kenya mission to the UN in New York and the embassy in Washington, DC
yet both are funded by the same government.
It’s
believed that the retirement age factored into the contract for locally
engaged staff at the Kenya mission to the UN in New York is officially
65, with the possibility of a three-year extension to 68. The staff at
the mission also have a 13-month bonus pay.
The package was negotiated by Mr Kamau during his service there, prior to his appointment as PS.
Mr
Musumba said: “My prayer is that the ministry will look into this
matter and offer us a possible life line to allow us to retire
honourably. I also pray that the ministry will find a way to harmonise
the terms of locally engaged staff at the Kenya mission to the UN, the
embassy in Washington, DC and the consulate in Los Angeles to prevent
similar cases."
ID CLAIMS
The embassy is currently embroiled in controversy over the issuing of identity cards (IDs).
There
were claims that ambassador Githae had been out-sourcing the issuance
of identity cards to a private contractor, yet this work has always been
done by embassy staff.
In a recent
ID issuance exercise in Atlanta, many Kenyans were charged almost double
and when they inquired, they were told that the rest of the money went
to the contractor.
Regarding this
allegation, Mr Asweto said: “It’s purely illegal. The way it is being
done is illegal and should be stopped forthwith. The ambassador was
advised by some of his senior staff at the embassy not to do it but he
didn’t listen.
In his phone interview, Mr Githae
reiterated that the claims were false and said the embassy resorted to
working with a contractor because it was cheaper and the consulate did
not have enough manpower.
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