Permanent secretary for maritime and shipping affairs, MS Nancy Karigithu addressing the journalists. [Photo/Kenya News Agency.]The government has raised an alarm over the increased number of illegal recruitments of the personnel working for ships docking at the Mombasa port.
Principal Secretary for Maritime and Shipping Affairs, Nancy Karigithu has said that the hirings are illegal and any persons found doing so breaks the law and thus is subjected to a fine of Ksh100,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both.
The law states that all persons working on the board of the Kenyan ships or any persons of Kenyan origin working on a foreign ship, must be hired or fired through the office of the register of seafarers.
Karigithu also reinstated that the act ensures the welfare of the seafarers are well catered for while they are outside the jurisdictions of the Kenya maritime administration.
“The Act aims to guarantee the welfare of the seafarer while he/she is outside the jurisdiction of the Kenyan maritime administration, in terms of adequate wages, payment of those wages on a regular basis, hours of work and other social welfare minimums,” noted Karigithu.
The principal secretary further warned that the government must have a record of employment and all the travels made by seafarers out of the country.
The alarm has come amid the increased traffic at the port that has seen the amount of cargo being loaded between January and June this year increased by 1.6 million to 15 million as compared to last year the same period.