Story by SOLLO KIRAGU
Multinational tea companies are some of the biggest casualties of the violence in Kericho and Bureti districts. Scores of employees of the companies, from casuals to experts and senior managers, have fled for fear of their lives.
Hard hit were tea pickers, most of whom were forced to flee after raiders from neighbouring tea estates descended on them, causing panic in the entire tea industry. The situation could get worse if workers do not return in two months when the crop season is at its peak.
The companies, which are already reeling under a poor season due to the current drought, are not realising the huge harvests that they used to get in the past.
James Finlay’s Tea Company is going through difficult times after more than 5,000 workers fled following threats by area residents to leave for their ancestral homes or risk attack.
Hard hit is the engineering department where the company decided to send workers on premature annual leave, leaving the department with a skeletal work force.
Two long-serving engineers who were promoted to general managers based at Chomogonday and Kymulot division have also left following the threats.
Unilever Tea and George Williamson firms were not spared either after their workers fled following threats to their lives despite safety assurances.
The exodus of workers from the districts has also affected schools as those who are leaving are taking their children with them. Schools in the tea estates have very few students enrolled and if the trend continues, some of them might be forced to close indefinitely.
About 25 workers in the Kenya Tea Packers Company (Ketepa), who are deemed to be outsiders, have been moved to the company’s headquarters in Nairobi as a precautionary measure.
Operations at Kericho District Hospital have also been affected after 65 employees from various departments left following the outbreak of violence.
The hospital medical superintendent, Mrs Betty Langat said that the current staff cannot cope with the increased workload.
Several government departments are also experiencing similar problems after some of their workers decided to leave for areas they believe are safer for them.
Civil servants who are non-residents of Kericho did not report for duty after the post-election violence, fearing for their lives.
At the public Works Department, some 17 civil servants had not reported to work after being threatened.
They are now seeking transfers to safer districts.
At Kericho Law Courts, operations have nearly ground to a halt after 16 members of staff, among them two magistrates, failed to turn up for duty.
The two magistrates remaining in the district are unable to cope with the workload.
Advocates who were operating in the district have also gone underground as the wave of violence continued to take its toll on non-residents.
