James Finlays Kenya has fired two contractors who were featured in a BBC exposé detailing sexual exploitation of female workers at the tea firm. It has also offered the contractors’ employees direct jobs at the multinational.
“We have terminated our agreement with John Chebochok’s company Sislo Holdings. All 300 contractors who were working with us through Sislo have been offered direct employment to ensure their livelihoods are not affected – 98 percent have accepted,” said Finlays in a statement.
“We have also suspended John Asava. Both individuals have been barred from entering James Finlays Kenya,” it noted, adding that it had reported the BBC‘s allegations against them to the police.
The company says it has launched an independent investigation to “fully understand what happened and where we can improve”.
BBC’s Africa Eye documentary featured shocking accounts of sexual exploitation from women working at Finlays after its reporters spent months undercover at its tea plantations, which supply the beverage to many of the world’s leading retail chains.
The documentary, titled Sex for Work: The True Cost of Our Tea, contains footage showing the two contractors, who have worked on Finlays’ farms, taking part in alleged incidents of serious sexual misconduct. It shows them coercing desperate women seeking jobs into giving sexual favours in return for work.
Finlays says it has launched an internal probe that will first examine the specific cases of exploitation raised within the BBC programme. Secondly, it will show where the firm can improve its approach to preventing and addressing sexual violence, abuse, or harassment across its sites.
