Leaders in Kericho County have raised concern over the recent exposé at the multinational tea estate companies in which senior officials were implicated of seeking sexual favours from desperate job seekers.
The leaders condemned the alleged sexual abuse in which casual labourers were coerced to offer sex to their superiors to get employment favours
In a chilling investigative documentary by a UK media outlet, horrifying stories of dozens of women who were subjected to sexual abuse to keep their low-income jobs at British-owned tea farms in Kericho were exposed.
In the documentary, women working at the tea farms owned by Unilever and James Finlay narrated how their supervisors abused them sexually to secure their jobs and promotions.
Reacting to this, the Kericho County Governor Dr. Eric Mutai has in this regard issued a 48-hour ultimatum to police officers to arrest the culprits who are vividly exposed in the documentary some of whom are claimed to have infected the casual labourers with deadly diseases.
The governor who issued a joint statement together with Kericho Members of the County Assembly expressed disgust and denounced the sexual abuse allegations against the managers of the tea estate and called for justice for the victims
“It is very sad that our women have been forced to be sex slaves at the tea estates. We are condemning this act with the strongest terms possible and the culprits must be brought to book immediately” said Dr. Mutai
The governor extended his compassion to the sexual abuse victims by offering free counselling and treatment at the Kericho County Referral Hospital before resuming their duties.
Meanwhile, the Kericho County Woman Rep Beatrice Kemei in a statement demanded that the Multinational tea companies initiate legal action against the mentioned perpetrators and further called on the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to probe the matter.
“I wish to warn proprietors doing business within our county that they must only employ our people but also respect their human rights. Women must be respected in their places of work” Beatrice Kemei
In response to this, the James Finlay company in a statement has confirmed that the two individuals named in the documentary have been suspended and barred from the company’s site and passed information to the police.
The Kericho-based tea plantations owned by Unilever and James Finlay supply to some of the UK’s most popular brands, including PG Tips, Lipton, and Sainsbury’s Red Label.
By Kibe Mburu and Jemimmah Chemutai
