Court orders evicted Mombasa port workers be allowed back to staff houses

Mombasa, Kenya: Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) workers who had been sacked, got a temporary reprieve Tuesday after Industrial Court ordered that they should be allowed to return to staff houses, from which they were violently evicted by armed police on Sunday.

The suspension of the eviction sparked celebrations and calls for the departure of KPA Managing Director Gichiri Ndua by thousands of workers, who jammed the court. They stood in solidarity with 28 Dock Workers Union DWU officials, who were dismissed and thrown out of their houses for supporting a strike called by the Trade Union Congress (TUC-Kenya) to protest new medical cover charges.

Dock Workers Union (DWU) Secretary General Simon Sang' described the order as ‘fair.

Sang said DWU will file a case with International Labour Organization (ILO) to sue the government for infringing on rights of their workers.

The Industrial Court Judge in Mombasa, Justice James Rika, directed that the employees should be allowed to return to the houses pending the hearing and determination of a case challenging their sacking.

"In the interim, claimants are restored to their staff houses from, which they were ejected, pending hearing and determination of the application," Justice Rika directed in a matter that was heard at the chambers.

Rika directed that KPA should be served the application by the employees over the sacking and ordered that the case be heard on July 24 this year.