The Labour Principal Secretary, Shadrack Mwadime, has issued a warning to employers who are paying their employees less than what is stipulated by the law.
Speaking during an interview with Bahari FM on Tuesday, April 15, the PS said that any employer caught contravening the minimum wage law will face legal repercussions.
According to Mwadime, the ministry will collaborate with the Director of Public Prosecution(DPP), who has the responsibility of punishing employers who defy the minimum wage law, to ensure that these employers are held accountable.
"I had a meeting with the DPP three months ago, and we talked about these things. The current DPP has been in prosecution for a very long time, so after discussing it was very easy for us to come up with strategies to deal with employers who contravene the minimum wage," he said.
"The minimum wage is in our constitution in all our cities and even the rural areas, and we will ensure that the employers who are paying people less and defying the minimum wage law are brought to court," he added.
Across most industries in Kenya, the minimum wage for full-time employees is currently Ksh15,201 per month, unless specific sector-based agreements dictate otherwise.
The minimum wage aims to ensure fair compensation and decent living standards for workers, while also balancing economic sustainability.
Mwadime has further assured that the government is working relentlessly to address the unemployment menace that has overshadowed the youth in the country. He affirmed that the government is collaborating with other countries to ensure that Kenyans secure jobs abroad.
According to the PS, countries such as Germany have already committed to executing strategies, such as ensuring that Kenyan citizens get work permits swiftly, so they can go and work there.
Additionally, according to Mwadime, a delegation from Kenya will conduct a roadshow in Germany to identify job opportunities, which the government will then encourage youth to apply for.
"Germany assured that they will send more officers to their embassy here in Kenya to ensure that the work permits are processed as quickly as possible. They have also sent attachés from the chamber of commerce who have the list of jobs in their industries," he said.
"We as the government want to go to Germany and conduct a roadshow. We will ensure that we visit cities there and scrutinise which jobs are there so that we may come back and tell Kenyans which jobs are there," he added.
