Economic Rights and Social Protection (ER-SP)

In the period 2008- 2012, Kenyan taxpayers paid Members of Parliament Ksh 851,000 per month and the PresidentKsh 2.4M per month. In the same period, Kenya’s per capita income has been Ksh 2,000 per month, while minimumwage remained Ksh 4,050 per month. This means the President earned over 595 times than the average citizen,while MPs in the 10th Parliament earned over 425 times more than the per capita income and 210 times more thanthe minimum wage paid to the many workers in the agriculture, plantations and allied sector whose sweat is thebackbone of Kenya’s economy.What exactly should to elected state officers be doing to earn this money and are they actually offering Kenyanstheirmoney’s worth?

Women employees in Kenya’s multi-million shilling cut flower industry have to wait four months to get their monthly pay for maternity leave months. “Wilting in Bloom: The Irony of Women Labour Rights in the Cut-flower Sector in Kenya”  reveals that some employers withhold salaries while the employees are on maternity leave and only pay the dues a whole month after they resume duty.

The report established that this subtle discrimination begins to manifest itself through pre-employment pregnancy tests which are part of company practice. Further, some employees are forced to proceed on maternity leave two months before their due date; which in some cases results to women taking less than two months maternity leave after delivery. Twenty percent of the flower companies in the study were found to apply this practice, thus violating women’s rights to time to recover after delivery and care for their newborn child. Requirements by Fairtrade companies recommend 6 weeks compulsory maternity leave post-delivery.

The practice of cattle rustling remains a major cause of insecurity and conflict amongst the pastoral communities in Kenya. The recent upsurge of incidents of cattle-rustling has been greatly facilitated by the ready availability of small arms and light weapons in the cattle-rustling prone areas. The increased use of weaponry in cattle rustling by the pastoralist communities has grown to become a daunting security threat to the lives of the pastoralists and also a key threat to the core of their livelihoods, which is anchored on ownership of large herds of livestock.

A Critique of the Interim Report Task Force on the Devolved Government (TFDG) prepared by the Centre for Democracy and Good Governance(CEDGG),

Download Interim Report of the Task Force on Devolved Government

The Study, ‘Harmonization of Decentralized Development in Kenya: Towards alignment,citizen engagement and accountability’ results from partnership between Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and Social and Public Accountability Network (SPAN) to work together to strengthen the decentralization paradigm in Kenya.