ECONOMY-KENYA: Rights Campaign in EPZs Elicits Mixed Results

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Apr 19 2004 (IPS) - A number of employees in Kenya’s export processing zones claim they have been threatened with dismissal should they continue associating with human rights groups that are championing better conditions for workers. However, certain companies in the zones also appear to have taken heed of the groups’ concerns.

The employees who are alleging threats of dismissal work in textile firms. Their employers have reportedly complained of several contracts being cancelled by foreign buyers who were concerned about poor conditions in the export processing zones (EPZs). This apparently followed a campaign in February by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) to highlight the plight of EPZ employees.

“We have been told that we will face the axe if we continue featuring in the activities of KHRC, because according to our employers they (the activities) have led to declining profits due to the withdrawal of contracts by clients – most of them from the west,” said Esther Wambura who is contracted to Indigo Garments, a textile manufacturer located on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital – Nairobi.

Efforts by IPS to verify these allegations were unsuccessful as the management of Indigo Garments declined to comment.

“We know what you people of the press are after. You just delight in looking for negative reports and maligning people. For that reason, there is no comment,” said a company representative, who refused to give his name.

Textile companies have a large presence in the country’s EPZs*, many of them producing clothing for the United States’ market.

In a report launched Feb. 17 entitled ‘The Manufacture of Poverty: the Untold Story of EPZs’, the KHRC detailed the poor conditions under which EPZ employees worked – some of them for low wages that did not match the cost of living.

The commission alleged that employees were obliged to work for long hours, and that few precautions were taken to safeguard those who dealt with hazardous equipment and the like. Women had been denied maternity leave and were subjected to sexual harassment. In addition, workers often lacked access to toilet facilities – and had been refused the right to unionise.

Since then, labour activists have stationed themselves at various EPZ companies to monitor whether improvements were being made with working conditions.

Workers Rights Watch (WRW), which forms part of KHRC, believes change is afoot in certain firms. “We have been notified by various employers that salaries of workers will be increased by five percent from May 1 this year,” Edward Indimuli, a WRW official, told IPS.

Certain employers are also starting to allow their female employees maternity leave.

“This is commendable because women, who form the bulk of EPZ employees, have suffered for a long time. Many have miscarried or undergone delivery complications because of being denied maternity leave by these employers,” said Mary Nyambura of the Kenya Women Workers Organisation.

Workers’ rights advocates have also come under attack from Trade and Industry Minister Mukhisa Kituyi, who accused them of exaggerating the problems of EPZ employees in order to attract donor funding for their advocacy work.

Last month, the activists planned to mobilise EPZ workers to stage a protest at a government-sponsored international investors’ conference held Mar. 23-26.

The demonstration was called off following a hurriedly convened meeting at which Labour Minister Ali Mwakwere pleaded with activists not to go ahead with the protest – which he said would undermine efforts to boost Kenya’s economy.

Mwakwere promised to call for a meeting at the end of this month where the working conditions in EPZs would come under scrutiny. He also promised to discuss unpopular initiatives that had been introduced to attract investors to the EPZs, such as a 10-year tax exemption on imports.

EPZs were introduced 14 years ago in a bid to speed up job creation in Kenya where, according to the Ministry of Planning and National Development, about two million people are currently unemployed. The United Nations Human Development Report for 2003 puts the country’s population at about 30 million.

According to the EPZ Authority, a government agency that manages the EPZs, 26,447 Kenyans were employed in the zones in 2002.

The zones have been growing in number internationally since the 1970s, even though activists have frequently complained that they discount workers rights.

* Please note that the original version of this story stated that Kenya had an estimated 30 EPZs. It has since been drawn to IPS’ attention that this figure referred to the number of companies located in EPZs, of which there are in fact about 40. At present, Kenya has five export processing zones.