BY NT CORRESPONDENT.
Kenyans working at the Embassy of Kuwait in Nairobi now claim that they are working under fear, pressure and stress with warnings and sacking threats from the management hanging on their necks.
Sources at the Embassy have indicated that since the arrival of the current Envoy Qusai Rashid five senior staff have either been fired or their contracts terminated. Some of the staff who did not want their cover blown up has worked between 21 and 30 years at the Embassy.
The report claims that even the envoy is not in good working terms with his junior diplomats with allegations emerging that his deputy left after refusing to act on his dictatorial instructions. A senior staff whose contract was terminated says for the first time in many years – he has never seen such undiplomatic behavior from all the Ambassadors he has worked with for the last two decades.
Sources also say that the employees at the embassy are not paid leave allowance, house allowance, and overtime, NHIF or NSSF in accordance with the labour laws of the Kenyan constitution. Some of the employees like the drivers are complaining that they are overworked without over-time allowances.
The allegations are rife that those who are replacing the Kenyan employees who are sacked are foreigners who don’t have work permits and other requisite documents.
There has been no major assignment between Kenya and Kuwait since the ambassador Rashid came to Kenya three years ago. He is said to have only been travelling to the coast on a weekly basis for official visits.
Kenya and Kuwait have had cordial working relations with some projects in the country being funded by Kuwait Fund for Arab Development. Our efforts to contact the Embassy proved futile as our call went unanswered.
