Greek vessels face boycott
By FRANCiS RAYMOND
Greek ships calling at the port of
Mom basa might face a boycott in
protest against the sentence
passed on a Greek captain who
threw 11 Africans into sharkinfested waters of the Indian
Ocean.
The Kenya National Seamen
Union has coniened a meeting of
its executive committee for Wednesday 'to discuss "rastic
measures" to be taken against
Greek vessels calling at
Mombasa.
"Among the measures we
intend to take will be a general
boycott of all the Greek ships
calling at Mombasa and we are
going to ask our colleagues who
are non-seamen involved in the
port industry to give us their
hacking," the secretary-general of
the seamen union, Mr Abdallah
Mwaruwa, said yesterday.
In an exclusive interview with
the Nation, Mr Mwaruwa, who is
also the MP for Mombasa North,
said: "Kenya seamen are very
unhappy with the outcome of the
case in Greece. The sentence
passed on the Greek captain is
too lenient. Some people lost
their lives under the hands of the
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facing
boycott ,
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Mwaruwa said.
Asked if all Kenvan seamen
working in Greek ships might he
recalled in protest. Mr Mwaruwa
said that would depend on the
meeting of his executive committee on Wednesday.
"But with the present unemplovment situation the seamen
working in these Greek ships may
find it difficult to obey the call
and 1 may look a small .rnan I
don't want to be seen as a dietator." he said.
The union's chief said relati.:es
of the seamen who perished in
the Indian Ocean last year had
been to see the union to find out
what was going to happen next.
He refused to disclose anything
discussed bet"een the unin and
the Government on the issue,
since they last visited Greece
over the matter. "I don't want to
be seen as the Government
spokesman.
IVIr IViwaruwa vehemently
denied news agency reports that
he had aPl)roaChed the (reek
Embassy in Nairdhi and tried to
get some money or compensation
for the perished seamen's
relatives.
"I never demanded any money
from the Greek Embassy and if
there is any question of compensation that is the issue for the
Government to pursue. Flow
could the union have approached
the embassy when the case was
still in court and undecided?
There was nothing of that kind
and the reports are not true," he
said.
inhuman master and for im to
he jailed for 10 years is just a
mockery of justice."
Mr Mwaruwa said the Greek
captain deserved nothing short of
the death sentence.
"What happened to the 11
seamen will never get out of our
minds and the sentence passed on
that captain together with the
men who helped him to commit
that brutal act has weakened the
relationship between Greek
sailors together with their ships
and the Kenyan seamen," Mr
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