Tuesday 25, 2020 witnessed fiery protests as Kenya Prison Service suppliers took to the streets in protest.
The traders expressed their frustration with the government in the banners they wielded and the spirited 'Haki yetu! cries that rent the Tuesday air.
A video captured by the Daily Nation on February 25, 2020 affords a view into the raging protestors and the tear gas that coloured the air around them.
The ululating protesters, undeterred by the lobbying of tear gas, continued demanding for their rights as one exclaimed, "But what do they take us for? Trash?" in reaction to the teargas hurled to disperse them.
The demonstrations were the culmination of an overdrawn fight the suppliers had waged to be paid Ksh6.2 billion in pending bills.
The Ksh6.2 billion bills which have locked suppliers in an undying battle is linked to alleged collusion between rogue suppliers and employees at the Department of Corrections as well as Kenya Prisons.
The fight which has spanned two years involved 2,900 suppliers, had made the disgruntled traders ask President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene in the matter on February 16, 2020
Speaking to the Daily Nation on February 16, 2020, Margaret Moraa, one of the 2,900 disgruntled traders lamented that they had been offered assurance that they would be paid by January 30, 2020.
“We supplied goods and services to the government and expect it to pay us. The president has already issued a directive on this and we wonder why the Ministry of Interior and National Coordination is reluctant to pay us despite assurance by Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i that we be paid by January 30, this year,” she told journalists.
The suppliers have been waiting since 2018 for a verification exercise that was to weed out rogue suppliers and clear the way for their payments.
Caroline Ngesa, who has supplied Kenya Prisons for 14 years, was jailed for one month after she failed to pay her source for the maize she delivered.
“I was to pay my supplier Ksh1.2 million but now I have to pay Ksh1.6 million after the supplier took me to court. I was jailed and still, I have to pay the cash yet the government is watching all these happenings,” protested Ngesa.
The traders have stated that they've gone through tough economic times because of the delays.
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