Nairobi Lawyer to Offer Pro Bono Services to Family of a Steel Factory Worker Who was Boiled to Death

Nairobi-based attorney Harrison Musyoka has offered to give free legal services to the family of Caleb Otieno, who was boiled to death at a steel factory in Thika on March 25th.

The lawyer says he will offer pro bono representation to the family to ensure they get justice, arguing that the Sh420,000 compensation offered by the company for their son’s death is laughable and a big mockery to the family.

“These people are trying to subvert the rule of law by offering compensation which is basically not commensurate with what the family underwent in terms of trauma, pain and suffering and of course they have no body to bury,” Musyoka said.

Musyoka noted that the employer should consider all the issues and offer the family a reasonable amount.

“If we are instructed, we will engage the company for negotiations. If they fail, we will have to instigate a legal proceeding against the company,” he added.

34-year-old Otieno was killed after he fell into a vat of molten steel at the Blue Nile Rolling Mills Ltd, where he worked for seven years. 

The deceased’s father Martin Oraro, 74, said the family was considering suing the company, terming the amount offered as compensation a ridicule to the family.

“The company offered me Sh100,000, and when I asked them about the compensation, the HR manager told me that they would compensate me with a third of Sh21,000 that my son was earning per month for the five years he worked as a permanent employee,'' Oraro told Nation.

''They told me this would translate to Sh7,000 per month. When my other son John Agwambo did the calculations, we realized the compensation would be Sh420,000 for all the five years he worked there as a permanent employee, yet it is safety negligence at the company that made my son die. We felt ridiculed and denied justice.”

Oraro’s family will be burying three small bags of remains that were retrieved from the boiler, including a few joint bones and teeth.