Nairobi Kenya, March 5- The Parliamentary Committee on Labour has urged Ekatera and James Finlay Kenya tea farm workers who have suffered from sexual harassment to come forward and provide testimony so as to facilitate an ongoing investigation.
This follows a recent BBC expose – “Sex for Work” – in which female workers at Unilever and James Finlay tea farms laid bare their frustrations in the hands of some of the managers who allegedly demand sexual favour in exchange for work or promotions.
The parliamentary committee led by Runyenjes MP Erick Muchangi and other stakeholders now say none of the victims have come up to record a statement or testify with the team.
“On the issue of victimization, and the reasons as to why the majority of the women do not want to come out and speak into these issues is because they fear they will lose their jobs, and as the representatives have said when one appears to the tribunal board high chances is one is going to be fired,” said Muchangi.
“For this reason, there is no woman interested in getting the matter known by the senior management,” he added.
He however, assured that the government has the capacity to get to the bottom of the scandal and bring the culprits to book.
“The government of Kenya has the capacity to investigate and find out exactly who the suspects are, how long the exploitation has been going on, and bring the suspects to book,” he said.
Kericho Woman Representative Beatrice Kimei compelled the women who appeared in the BBC documentary to come forward and provide testimonies to help with the investigations.
Kimei assured the women that they would be secure, saying that they would be guarded and that no one would victimise them.
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji last month asked the National Police Service to commence investigations into alleged cases of rape and sexual assault at the two tea farms.
“These grave allegations are contrary to sections 4, 5, 6, 23(1), and 26 of the Sexual Offences Act as well as Section 6 (1) of the Kenya Employment Act,” said Haji in a Wednesday letter addressed to Police IG Japhet Koome.
James Finlay Kenya has since suspended two contractors after they were exposed in the BBC report.
