Kenya Prison Suppliers staged protests on Thursday, July 30 in Nairobi Central Business District over unpaid dues by the Government.
Over 2,500 suppliers claimed the government had accrued pending bills totalling to Ksh 6.2 billion with their efforts to get paid falling on deaf ears.
The protesters also urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to address the matter noting that he gave a directive that suppliers are paid.
The protestors blamed Principal Secretary in the State Department for Correctional Services, Zainabu Hussein for the delay in payment.
One of the protestors lamented about the government failing to honour their promise of settling the debts before June 30.
"We were given a deadline of 30th of June by Zainabu, she has done so many verifications upto now we are wondering what is happening.
"30th of June is already over we are now on 30th of July we have no communication from Zainabu's office, kindly Zainabu pay us we are dying of hunger," noted the woman.
The suppliers claim to have supplied various goods that were used by prisons all over Kenya between 2009 and June 2018.
They staged their protests around Uhuru Park with this not being the first time they have taken to the streets as back in February 2020 they were teargassed by police.
On Wednesday, May 20 the government committed to clear pending bills owed to suppliers in the State Department for Correctional Services by June 30.
"This is the final verification exercise and there will be no other. Failure to present yourself will result to non-verification of your claims," noted PS Zainabu.
