Kenya: the resistance grows
STRIKES
In October 1997, striking Kenyan teachers won their wage
demands. The government agreed to pay the teachers a 200% increase,
spread over five years. Approximately 240,000 teachers were on strike
for 11 days. The strike followed a breakdown in negotiations between
the government and the Kenyan National Union of Teachers, which has
160,000 members.
At the time of going to press (December), Kenyan nurses were
still striking for an improvement on their R450 wages. Doctors backed
them. The strike is in defiance of government orders to return to
work.
DEMOCRACY
1997 has also been a key year for the struggle against Kenya's
billionaire dictator, Daniel Arap Moi. Moi's ruthless police State
has repeatedly refused to hold free and fair elections. Instead it
has relied on repression and promoting ethnic clashes.
This year, student activist Solomon Muruli, was killed by an
explosion almost certainly engineered by the forces of the regime. In
1996, he had also been abducted, tortured and left for dead by the
cops. Students are one of many groups opposing the dictator.
In August, there were massive protests. On August 8, a general
strike closed down Nairobi, the capital. In the face of this
resistance, and pressured by his imperialist backers in the
International Monetary Fund, Moi agreed to go to the negotiating
table. But it seems unlikely he will agree to real political reforms
before the rigged show-elections set for January 1998. Only mass
struggle will oust this killer.
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