Siaya County workers celebrate Sabasaba 'holiday'

SIAYA COUNTY: More than 2,000 county workers missed work following a directive by Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga saying Monday was a public holiday.

Mr Rasanga had ordered that nobody would be allowed in offices on Monday following CORD leader Raila Odinga's declaration that the day should be a public holiday.

But it was business as usual for civil servants as operations and services were offered to residents, albeit at a slow pace.

"We cannot afford to stay out of work because we may be sacked," said one of the workers at the county commissioner's office.

At the county offices, normal operations were halted as chief officers and workers, including Deputy Governor Wilson Onyango, stayed away from work. The governor's office remained closed. Visitors and a number of vehicles that normally troop in were nowhere in sight.

CONTENTIOUS ISSUES

Rasanga said that as the county boss, he had full authority to call for a holiday in his county.

He added that he had taken the move to give residents an opportunity to join other Kenyans in marking Saba Saba Day.

The governor noted that the people of Siaya, just like other Kenyans, had a right to join in the agenda calling for change concerning contentious issues in the country.

Rasanga directed his deputy to ensure that no worker, including those from the national government, reported to work until the Saba Saba rally in Uhuru Park, Nairobi, was over. He directed that all civil servants working in the county should rest.

The governor was speaking at a CORD rally in Ugunja town ahead of the planned Saba Saba rally.

However, a spot check by The Standard indicated that many people defied the order and opened their businesses as usual.

Pamela Ochieng' who sells groceries, said she would not close her business because her children needed to eat.

Elsewhere, police in Kisumu County were forced to fire teargas to disperse protestors who had organised themselves in three separate groups of about 100 each and attempted to hold a peaceful demonstration in Kondele, Car Wash and Manyatta.

Chanting anti-government slogans, the youths blocked roads with stones and lit bonfires to express their dissatisfaction with the Government and solidarity with CORD leader Raila Odinga.

The situation remained tense for the better part of the morning as the angry youths attempted to march to the Jomo Kenyatta sports grounds to hold a parallel rally called by Raila on Saturday.