Residents of Githunguri, Kiambu county have decried the rise in the number of ‘deadly’ workers from the neighbouring country Uganda who according to the residents have infiltrated their dairy farms.
A section of the residents are blaming these workers whom they say always end up stealing from them and murdering their employers in cold-blood.
The residents attributed the employment of Ugandans in their farms to their cheap labour and hardworking. According to most of them, a Kenyan farmhand will demand Sh500 for a day’s work while Ugandans demand only Sh250.
The workers are attracted by the expansive agricultural industry in the area with the flourishing dairy sector being their main wealth creation target. In 2018, a senior citizen identified as James Kagunda was attacked, cut up and seriously injured by his Ugandan farmhand.
Kagunda’s family alleges that the elderly man had sold a cow and had some cash with him, a motive that saw his employee attack him and flee the area, never to be seen again.
The family narrates that on that day, Kagunda was found lying on the ground in one of the cow sheds bleeding profusely. The worker who had been with the family for two and a half months had locked his room and vanished, making him the prime suspect.
Area residents are now calling on the government to intervene and deport the workers while ensuring that aliens do not come into the country again.
The residents say it is at times hard to differentiate Ugandans from Kenyans saying that most of them say they come from Western Kenya confusing them even more.
According to one Ugandan worker, Bernard Kamatati, his countrymen floods Kenya in search of good jobs. Despite this, Kamatati does not condole the behaviour of his fellow workers saying that they should be dealt with according to the country’s laws.
He said the residents should not judge them as bad beings since it was only a section of the workers who had been involved in the crime.
The Assistant County Commissioner, Githunguri sub-county Bernard Odiro acknowledges that the foreigners are a threat to the area security but says that the authorities are on top of matters, working to ensure the menace comes to a halt.