Francis Muli
The Casino employees union has written to the Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i seeking to reopen business with strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols.
The Chairman, Mark Wanyanga, noted that many employees had been rendered jobless since March, when the first case of the novel Corona virus was reported in the country.
“We are requesting the CS to consider reopening our businesses to enable us earn a living.” Mr Wanyanga said, noting the industry employs about 10,000 employees with around 30,000 dependents.
The union also revealed that the employees were drowning in debt and were facing multiple threats from lenders and auctioneers who wanted to impose penalties should they fail to clear their loan payments.
“Banking institutions have equally refused to issue moratoriums thus [worsening] the problem,” said Mr Benson Luganji, while reading a statement on behalf of the workers.
“Our situation is bad since most of our members have been rendered homeless as they cannot pay rent. Some are clueless as to what to do with their families and majority are depressed by the risk of permanent job loss.” he added.
Other employees said they had been forced to move to smaller houses since they were no longer able to pay rent, while other said they had to send their families upcountry.
“Our lives will be headed for doom if the government does not intervene and solve work-related issues,” one said.
The union also said that should Casino operations fail to resume, the foreign investors would likely wind up their businesses resulting in massive job cuts.
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