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Article

15 Dec 2014

Author:
Tobias Chanji, Standard Digital (Kenya)

Kenya: Leader concerned misuse of compensation cash by locals displaced for railway construction may plunge locals into poverty

"Standard Gauge Railway compensation beneficiaries on a marrying spree"

Kwale County Governor Salim Mvurya has cautioned the beneficiaries in the compensation of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) against misusing the money. The governor said that several men who have been paid off have gone full throttle on a marrying spree instead of putting the cash in good use…Mvurya lamented that land owners on the route the railway line have not been sensitize[d] on how to utilize the millions they will receive and that most of them were misusing the cash…[and] warned that if the beneficiaries will not careful they will plunge themselves into poverty again "with an extra burden of a second wife."… Several people are also scrambling for employment of opportunities and the China and Bridge Company says that most of its works force will be drawn for the local communities. Late last month the company, SGR and the County Government formed a committee to oversee distribution of jobs to locals. This was after locals accused the company on corruption and discrimination in its employment process…Kinango MP Gonzi Rai has so far asked the human resource department of the company to serve the office of the Governor with the list of all employees working in the department. "We want transparency in the employment process and corporate social responsibility that is effective to the community. We want the people of Kwale to know that in this new dispensation things have to be done in the right way" remarked Rai.

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