133. Article 230 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 established the Salaries and Remuneration Commission
whose functions include setting and reviewing the remuneration and benefits of all State officers. The
Commission is in the process of rationalizing the salaries within the public sector thereby reducing the
disparity between the highest and lowest paid public officer from the current 159 per cent to 87 per
cent.
134. Some of the challenges to the right to work include high unemployment rates. In 2011 this was 40 per
cent, up from 12.70 per cent in 2006. The State still faces the challenge of not only how to create jobs but
how to establish sustainable jobs which comply with minimum labour standards and how to balance
between formal employment and employment within the informal sector. Opportunities for formal
sector jobs remain far more limited than opportunities for informal sector jobs. By 2010, formal sector
jobs compared to informal sector jobs had shrunk to 18.8 per cent.
135. The State also faces the challenge of effective implementation and does not have adequate resources to
deploy enough labour inspectors to the numerous cites where workers’ rights do keep being violated
especially in the informal sector.
136. There are objections to the minimum wage with employers arguing that that the market forces of
supply and demand be allowed to apply and that that the insistence on minimum wage makes the cost
of doing business very expensive resulting to high costs of goods and services.
137. Child labour still remains a challenge because of poverty. There are also still bad working conditions
for some who work in the horticultural sector although the sector is under more Government scrutiny
than before which has led to significant improvement. There is also the challenge of Kenyan migrant
workers who go to look for employment in countries that do not acknowledge labour rights and the
Government has more often than not intervene to bring the workers back home.
Article 16: The Right to Health
138. The Constitution of Kenya, 2010 specifically recognizes the right to health and stipulates under Article
43 (1) (a) that ‘every person has the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes
the right to health care services, including reproductive health care’. Article 43 (2) further provides that
‘a person shall not be denied emergency medical treatment’. Article 43 also includes other rights that
have a bearing on the rights to health namely: the right to clean water, the right to housing and
sanitation, the right to education, the right to food, and the right to social security. Like all other rights,
there is guarantee of equal and full enjoyment of this right without discrimination in the terms set out
in Article 27 of the Constitution. Article 53 (1) (c) provides for the Children’s right to health and Article
56 (e) provides for the minorities and marginalised groups right to health., The Constitution also
recognizes that consumers also have the right to the protection of their health as provided under
Article 46 (c).
139. Attendant to the right to health is the right to a clean and healthy environment under Article 42 which
also includes the right to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future
generations through legislative and other measures, particularly those contemplated in Article 69 in
respect of environment and Article 70 which provides for the enforcement of environmental rights.
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