Your Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta, President and Commander in Chief of the Kenya Defense Forces of this great Republic,
Your Excellency the Deputy president, William Samoei Rutto
Cabinet Secretary for Labor and East African Community Affairs, Ms. Phyllis Kandie
Secretary General, Central Organization of Trade Unions,(COTU) (K), Bro. Francis Atwoli Trade Union Leaders,
Distinguished Workers of this Great Republic,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me take this opportunity to welcome all of you to Nairobi City and express my sincere gratitude to the leadership of COTU for once again choosing the City of Nairobi to hold this auspicious event. I want from the onset to acknowledge and commend the leadership of COTU led by Secretary General Brother Francis Atwoli and his team and all the workers gathered here and elsewhere today. I take this early opportunity to congratulate Brother Francis who has recently been awarded the National Order of Merit by the Algerian government for his “exemplary efforts in the fight for the rights of the African workers.”
We at Nairobi City County are proud of your leadership team which is working every single day with county elected officials to create opportunities and economic growth and prosperity.
I, and the entire Nairobi County leadership rank and file of 13,000 plus, are honored to spend this day with you and your families — the working men and women of Kenya. This day belongs to you.
2 Your efforts are the bedrock that this country is built on. Hard work…. Responsibility……….Sacrifice. Looking out for one another. Giving everybody a chance to share in the county’s prosperity, from the factory floor to the jua kali sheds.
That’s what unions are all about…..Negotiating for good jobs with good wages……. For good, affordable and universal health care ………………for a secure retirement plan……….fighting for the chance to give our children a better life than we had…..creating an economy where hard work pays off and everybody gets a shot at the Kenyan Dream.
Your Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta, Secretary General Brother Francis Atwoli………..and my fellow workers here present, I want everybody here to know, that as long as I am at the helm of this great City, I am going to stand up for Collective Bargaining and that I am fully committed to resolving conflict and differences through negotiations and consensus-building. 3 Unions are a critical path in the need to help drive change, whether it’s on the factory floor, in the jua kali sheds or in government offices. Ladies and Gentlemen.….Nairobi is the capital of Kenya and accounts for 60% of the GDP. Nairobi is the city where the great Kenyan industry is slowly coming back to life and the industries of tomorrow are now confidently making their way back because of the enabling business environment and ease of doing business created over the last four years.
This is a city where the wana-inchi, are dreaming up ways to write the next proud chapter in our history. I want to assure you that I will do all that is within my powers in the coming five years to continue crafting an enabling environment to enable this dream to be achieved. 4 I must admit here that there have been challenges but I am now, more than ever before, ready to face and conquer these challenges.
I am not scared of challenges because I know we are all going to be marching together………….and walking together……..and working together……….side by side…..And my humble prayer is that the union movement under the able leadership of Brother Francis Atwoli is going to be at the center of it all. Thank you very much. God bless you. God bless COTU. God Bless The City of Nairobi. God Bless Kenya 5