Tetu MP, Hon. Geoffrey Wandeto, has demanded answers from the government over the decades-long delay in paying salaries, terminal dues, and other benefits to former employees of the defunct Nyayo Tea Zones in Tetu.

Raising the matter on the floor of the National Assembly, Hon. Wandeto said 702 workers who were employed between 1986 and 1996 by the former Nyayo Tea Zones had been left in limbo since the transition of the institution into the Nyayo Tea Zones Development Corporation in 1992. He said despite numerous petitions and a parliamentary inquiry, the affected workers were yet to be compensated.

“These are hardworking Kenyans who toiled on government tea farms for years, only to be abandoned without pay or acknowledgment. Justice delayed is justice denied, and this matter has dragged on for far too long,” said Hon. Wandeto.

He directed his request to the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Labour under Standing Order 44(2)(c), seeking an official statement on the government’s plan to resolve the impasse.

In his remarks, the MP referenced a previous parliamentary intervention in 2011, when the then Tetu MP, Hon. F.T. Nyammo raised the matter through Question No. 919. He further noted that in 2016, the Departmental Committee on Labour and Social Welfare conducted an inquiry, which found that employment records had not been transferred from the Ministry of Internal Security formerly in charge of Nyayo Tea Zones to the successor entity, Nyayo Tea Zones Development Corporation.

“The Committee was clear in its findings. It recommended that the Office of the President should take responsibility and pay the 702 affected workers. But nearly a decade later, not a single payment has been made,” Hon. Wandeto said.

The Tetu lawmaker is now seeking a progress report on the settlement of dues and a clear implementation timeline.

“This House must not sit back as ordinary citizens are denied what is rightfully theirs. The people of Tetu demand action, and I will not relent until they get what they are owed,” he declared.

The request was referred to the Departmental Committee on Labour for an official response.