Kisumu residents demand that Kenya Breweries hires 70% locals

Kisumu Deputy Governor Mathews Owili. On December 7, 2017, he said a committee will be formed to ensure more locals are hired at EABL's new plant scheduled to be opened next year. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • KBL plans to open a new Keg plant in Kisumu next year and locals have demanded that the company hires 70 per cent of its workers from the county.

Hundreds of Kisumu residents staged a protest outside the Kenya Breweries Limited offices in Kisumu on Thursday, demanding that 70 per cent jobs in the company should be given to locals.

They said KBL has been giving opportunities to non-residents from other counties.

PROTEST

They sat outside the gates of the plant for the better part of the morning in protest.

KBL, part of the East African Breweries Ltd, plans to open a Keg brewing plant in Kisumu next year. The factory is currently being built.

The Sh15 billion plant has given hope to jobless locals on the prospects of securing employment.

But the company said it would announce plans on how it will recruit staff.

Earlier, the firm said the new plant would provide up to 110,000 new jobs.

JOBS

Deputy Governor Mathews Owili said jobs that can be sourced locally should be given to locals.

“We are going to formulate a committee that will recruit residents for the opportunities that the EABL plant will provide,” said Dr Owili.

“The committee will comprise of representative from the county government, office of the area MCA, MP and two members of the community.”

Dr Owili said the workers should do a fresh registration with the proposed committee to root out claims of biased recruitment.

“We want to know the total number of people and skills they have for recruitment. The office will be situated outside the premises for fair recruitment of our people,” he said.

Railways MCA David Arao said the company should give 70 per cent of the jobs to locals when the plant is complete.

EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this story described the protesters at the Kenya Breweries Limited premises in Kisumu as workers, they were a section of residents. This has been corrected. We apologise for the error.