Jason Marshall, an American employer, has publicly slammed the government for letting his employees participate in a tree-planting holiday next Monday.
In a post on the X app, the foreigner lamented that his staff would be celebrating a tree-planting day rather than working.
“So many holidays in Kenya. Our Kenyan staff is gonna be out on Monday for Tree Planting Day. What? Seriously?” Jason Marshall wondered.
Marshall noted that, unlike in America, where there are few holidays, Kenya celebrates unnecessary ones. In the US, he added, holidays are mainly for government and bank employees.
“In the US, only for bank and government employees. For years, I worked at a leading US company and had 6 paid holidays per year (New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day were half of the 6),” Marshall explained.
According to Marshall, in the United States, government and bank employees receive 11 federal holidays, while most employees who work for private sectors receive about 7 to 8 holidays in a calendar year.
“Bankers and government people get all 11 federal holidays off (15 per cent of workers). Most private sector employees get 7 or 8 holidays in the USA. 10 vacation days is standard also,” he noted.
“I've worked in the USA for over 30 years, I've never had a paid Jewish or Muslim holiday. I've never had Good Friday paid either. Christmas is the only Christian holiday I've ever had as a paid vacation day.”
According to Marshall, despite his employees going on a free holiday, the company would still incur payments for the day off.
Last week, the government announced a tree-planting holiday scheduled for November 13 in a gazette notice released by the Ministry of Interior.
The government announced that it targets to grow 100 million seedlings countrywide in the Monday exercise, and it thus offered free trees to Kenyans in an effort to achieve the goal.
Raymond Omollo, Interior Principal Secretary, urged each Kenyan to pick the free trees from the nearest chief’s office and plant them at their area of choice.
“Members of the public are advised to visit their nearest chief's office for tree seedlings and liaise with the area assistant county commissioner and deputy county commissioner in respective counties,” stated PS Omollo.
