• The course trains seafarers on safety and comes in handy when a ship runs aground or encounters any other problem.
• Ezekiel Odhiambo said for a long time they have been suffering because there was no one to hear their cries.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
Seafarers in Mombasa want Mining and Blue Economy CS Hassan Joho to intervene and have the fees for a safety course reduced.
They said the five-day ‘Proficiency in Survival Craft and Rescue Boat (PSCRB)’ course, under the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW), costs Sh32,000, which is too expensive for most of them.
However, the Star has learnt from sources at Kenya Maritime Authority and other established seafarers that the course costs Sh25,000, not the Sh32,000 the seafarers in Ganjoni claimed.
The seafarers are trained on safety, which comes in handy when a ship runs aground or encounters problems and the captain calls for its abandonment.
Speaking in Ganjoni on Saturday, the seafarers, who were joined by activist Farida Tall, urged CS Joho to have the fees reduced so all seafarers can afford it.
One cannot be employed aboard a ship without the certificate.
“Just like they reduced the STCW fees from Sh35,000 to Sh15,000, they should also reduce the PSCRB fees from Sh32,000 to something affordable,” seafarer Juma Makame said.
“Many of the seafarers are not at work, where will they get the money?”
Ezekiel Odhiambo said for a long time they have been suffering because there was no one to hear their cries.
“We had problems revalidating our licences. The rescue boat certification was a challenge for us and most of us only managed through the help from well-wishers,” Odhiambo said.
He said for almost a year most of the seafarers have not paid because of high fees.
“For instance, I owe Bandari Maritime Academy Sh25,000 for the ‘rescue boat’ certificate. I ask our CS to intervene. There are many job opportunities now but we can’t get them because we lack this certificate,” Odhiambo said.
Tall said they have full confidence in Joho and KMA chairman Hamisi Mwaguya, who she said has initiated reforms at the authority that are geared towards helping seafarers.
She said in the past, seafarers were the best paid persons at the Coast and there was no going to Saudi Arabia, Dubai or Qatar for employment because jobs were readily available for seamen.
“Wives and children used to look forward to the return of their husbands and fathers. But today, the industry is dead. We would like our son CS Joho to revive it,” Tall said.
She said she has full confidence in Joho and Mwaguya in solving most of the problems seafarers face.
Mwaguya said the authority is ready to work with seafarers to ensure smooth operations and improved welfare.
“One of our priorities remains to work for the people of Kenya in the blue sector to reap the maximum from its potential,” he said.
The seafarers said they have full confidence in Joho’s workmanship and anyone trying to sabotage his work will not succeed because he has the blessings of all Coast people.
“We know there are people jealous of him and do not want him at the helm in the ministry, but he who Allah has chosen is the chosen one. No one will stop that,” Tall said.
A human rights organisation, Genesis for Human Rights, led by Caleb Ng’wena, has filed a petition in court seeking to have Joho removed as CS, saying he has no capacity to hold that docket or any other public docket.
Tall said this is another case of persecution for a person from the coastal.
“Why is it that people do not have problems with people from other regions who get appointed to such positions but whenever a coastal person is appointed, all manner of hurdles are placed in front of them? We are tired of being persecuted,” she said.
Tall said seafarers have been calling on her to help them, yet she knows little about seafaring.
“But now we have a saviour and we know these problems will end,” she said.
The seafarers say they are qualified but are forced to stay home because no vessel wants to take them in for lack of certificates.
They asked Joho to introduce a policy that would see all vessels calling at the Mombasa port or those using Kenyan territorial waters take Kenyans on board.
Barki Ali, a representative of youth in Mombasa, called for a meeting with CS Joho to explain in detail the suffering they are going through.
She alleged that some of the people taken on board vessels that call on the Mombasa port may not be qualified.
“We saw this ocean the first thing when we opened our eyes but we have not benefitted much from it. It is time we benefitted from the ocean,” Ali said.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI