Over 30 grandmothers stormed the Meru Municipal Council offices on Thursday in protest over failure of the council authorities to pay them for the services they rendered last year.
The grannies who claimed they were members of the Iriene Mazingira Women Group camped at the council offices for the better part of yesterday accusing the council for refusing to accrue payments for 20,179 tree seedlings they planted at Mwendantu grounds within Meru Town.
According to the invoice they presented to journalists, the Meru Municipal Council owed the group KES. 302,689/= in payment for tree seedlings supplied at a cost of KES.15/= each.
the women led by Zipporah Gathoni who is 55 years old said that the council has plans of paying them KES. 30,000/= only.
Gathoni lamented that the amount despite being deducted illegally cannot be shared among the members as it is meager compared to the workload done.
Earlier on in a full council meeting held last month Meru Town clerk Jasper Mutwiri said the council had approved payments for one group that claimed to have planted 3,000 trees despite having been authorized to plant only 1000 trees.
Mutwiri said two groups had claimed payment for 57,000 tree seedlings despite the council having only authorized one group where an agreement had been drawn to pay the group on humanitarian grounds.
“Even the group authorized to plant the trees claimed to have planted 20,000 trees instead of the 1, 000 requested by the council,” said the town clerk.
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