UK supermarket giant Tesco has suspended supply of avacados from Kenyan supplier Kakuzi following claims of violating employees rights.
Britain’s biggest grocery retailer announced the move after 79 Kenyans through Leigh Day law firm launched a legal claim in the High Court in London against Kakuzi’s holding company Camellia Plc for alleged human rights abuses.
The Kenyans accuse the food producer and exporter of employing security guards alleged to have perpetrated horrific abuses including killings, sexual assault, attacks, false imprisonment, and other forms of serious mistreatment, between 2009 and 2020.
A Tesco spokesperson said on Monday that the supermarket does not condone any form of human rights abuse in its supply chain.
“We have been working closely with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), alongside other ETI members, to investigate this issue and ensure measures have been taken to protect workers, ” the spokesperson said.
“However, in light of additional allegations published, we have suspended all supply whilst we urgently investigate.”
Camellia Plc is recorded on the London stock trade and is an enormous rural business which claims estates far and wide, utilizes more than 78,000 individuals and in 2019 created incomes in abundance of £290 million.
The supposed assaults are said to have been important for an example of fundamental savagery and terrorizing of residents by Kakuzi monitors over numerous years and which have been archived by neighborhood basic freedoms associations.
The argument is being held up against the UK parent organizations in the Camellia Group due to the reasonable proof that Kakuzi is firmly directed and constrained by those UK organizations, and that ranking directors in the UK organizations likewise oversee Kakuzi.
In an announcement on Monday, Kakuzi Plc situated in Murang’a County excused the denial of basic liberties claims.
The organization asserted that an article distributed on UK’s paper The Sun was proposed to harm its notoriety and by affiliation, its clients.
The case is being lodged against the UK parent companies in the Camellia Group because of the clear evidence that Kakuzi is tightly supervised and controlled by those UK companies, and that senior managers in the UK companies also manage Kakuzi.
In a statement on Monday, Kakuzi Plc based in Murang’a County dismissed the human rights abuse claims.
The company claimed that an article published on UK’s newspaper The Sun was intended to damage its reputation and by association, its customers.
“The Sunday Times article refers to a British Estate in Kenya. We are not a British estate. We are a proudly Kenyan Company with 1,300 shareholders, the majority being Kenyan, and have been trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange for over 50 years.” Kakuzi said.
