Kakuzi parent company sued for abuses and deaths

According to residents of the villages located around the expansive Kakuzi land, this was once a road used by the public but it was closed by the company, forcing residents to travel further to access their homes and public amenities. [Mose Sammy/ Standard]

A company in the United Kingdom has been sued by 79 Kenyans following abuses employees of its subsidiary in Kenya suffered.

Camellia Plc is accused of turning a blind eye to systematic human rights abuse by Kakuzi Limited employees that include rape, killings, attacks, false imprisonment and mistreatment for a period of 11 years.

In a statement sent to media houses in the UK and Kenya by the victims’ lawyer Leigh Day, Kakuzi security guards have been inflicting harm on locals surrounding its plantation that has avocados feeding the UK market.

The 79 victims include former employees of Kakuzi, and women and girls who were raped by the company guards after being caught collecting wood on the firm’s land. Some are said to have contracted HIV or became pregnant as a result of the rape. The firm will be facing 10 women and girls, including two who are under age. In investigations spanning three years, Kakuzi appeared to be closely monitored and controlled by its parent company Camellia.

“The attacks are said to have been part of a pattern of systemic violence and intimidation of villagers by Kakuzi guards over many years, and which have been documented by local human rights organisations,” s statement sent yesterday read in part.

It is claimed that a young man was clobbered to death by Kakuzi’s security guards in May 2018 for allegedly stealing avocados.

Other victims include a journalist and a cameraman who were maimed by the guards while reporting a protest led by students of Gitutu Secondary School in 2016. At the same time, 34 men and women involved in a protest on September 2, 2014 faced the wrath of Kakuzi guards.

Carmellia had initially proposed to settle the dispute out of court. It, however, demanded that the victims’ names should be revealed.

According to the statement, the firm also demanded that the victims should withdraw their cases against it and use Kenyan lawyers paid for by Kakuzi to negotiate for compensation.

However, those either maimed or families of those who were killed fear that the guards will revenge. The investigations were conducted with the help of Kenya Human Rights Commission and SOMO.

KHRC representative Mary Mombo said Kakuzi workers and communities surrounding the firm have persevered terror for the last 50 years. The firm is said to have been a beneficiary of thousands of acres taken away by colonial masters in Murang’a County. “Camellia’s proposal of an ‘alternative dispute resolution’ on condition that victims abandon their legal claim in the UK appears to be a glaring attempt to undermine the victims’ access to remedy and avoid liability for the abuses allegedly committed by its subsidiary.

Camellia should undertake to prevent further abuses from occurring while letting justice in the UK case run its course,” Mombo said, adding that the guards had become the law, prosecutors, judges and the jury.

She said: “The company continues to make a complete mockery of what constitutes responsible business conduct even when it claims to contribute to advancing social practices in Kenya. It is baffling how Kakuzi behaves as if it is a law unto itself.”

The case lodged at the High Court is against three British companies: Camellia Plc, Linton Park Plc and Robertson Bois Dickson Anderson Limited,” the statement read.