Shipping 
Friday, April 8, 2005 

Money moves mountains, so an old adage goes. The saying was evident when the 5,100 Kenya Ports Authority KPA) employees received their bonus payments.

For once the Port community was quiet and content. It was very encouraging to talk to some of the workers who had been paid.

The workers, used to grumbling over this and that, talked of the good times at the Port while some even went as far as saying that the present management was the best they have had in a long while and would no doubt support it.

This was a complete opposite from the continuous noise making and name calling that the workers and their union have been accustomed to.

I say accustomed to because any time you waylay a Port worker and ask him about conditions at the Port, you will end up wondering how the hell they can work in such an "unhomely and not-so-conducive environment".

Well, last Friday is gone and the money has either been put to good or bad use. The hard part begins. When the Minister for Transport, Dr Chris Murungaru, announced that the workers could have an extra plate of ugali on their tables in the form of a bonus, he gave a condition - that the bonus would only come when performance is satisfactory.

In monetary terms the Port must make profit above Sh1.8 billion that was raked in last year for the workers to qualify for bonus. This calls for soul searching and several controllable and uncontrollable factors.

The workers must of course work very hard by reporting on time and leaving in time when not on overtime (OT as they call it). It is also not just reporting but doing the right thing while at work.

Then there is the issue of safeguarding the interest of KPA. There are workers who have mastered the art of cheating on their employer by involving themselves in clandestine activities. This includes working in cahoots with unscrupulous clearing and forwarding agents to sneak containers out of the Port without paying the necessary duties.

If workers would commit themselves to delivering and reporting any suspected cases of cheating, then it can almost be certain that the Authority will continue registering profits. 

And huge profits for that matter. On the other hand the Authority and the parent ministry of Transport must not take workers through the agony of waiting for bonus. If there is anxiety on when the bonus would be paid, performance will definitely be affected.