Ex-employee of tea exporting firm alleges rot, urges probe
A tea farm. A tussle over a tea farm in Othaya has torn a family apart, leaving a 68-year-old farmer dead and his wife and children in police custody for alleged murder.
A dispute between a tea exporting firm and its former senior employee has exposed behind-the-scenes deals that allegedly divert residue tea for sale in the local market.
Ahmed Ali Twahir worked for MJ Clarke Ltd in Mombasa for more than 30 years, until 2017 when his employment as warehouse manager was terminated under unclear circumstances.
Documents he filed in the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Mombasa show that Mr Twahir linked his sacking to illegal activities that he claimed he unsuccessfully tried to stop.
“I brought to the company’s attention that if it was going to abide by the law, it should look no further and stop the illegal wrongdoings within itself specifically the sale of tea and waste products to the local market,” he said in an affidavit.
Correspondence between Mr Twahir and a company boss, produced in court as evidence, suggests that tea residue, described as waste products, was allegedly diverted for sale in the local market.
The letter also alleged that the company broke the law on disposing of waste products.
“By you selling these waste products to the local market, which I quote ‘you do sell’ jeopardizes the entire process of attaining the ISO 22000, and possibly the withdrawal of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point),” the letter said.
“Not to mention the Kenya Revenue Authority (customs) involvement of millions of shillings as in this case on taxable matters. I strongly believe you are well aware of the customs procedures yet this is not being done on your part.”
HACCP is a framework that certifies that an end product – food - is safe for human consumption.
Mr Twahir claimed the company started retaliating against him for raising these issues.
“The firm got agitated when I pointed out the illicit practices being carried out within the company, and became rather aggressive, and started issuing me with several letters harassing and intimidating me. Fortunately, I did not succumb to the pressure and remained optimistic,” he said
While MJ Clarke said it sacked Mr Twahir for gross misconduct and misappropriation of money meant for charity organisations and certification of export entries, he rejects the allegations.
“The company was well aware that the funds were being utilised to pay out customs officers as bribes to silence any alarm on post shipment payments,” he said
Through Balala and Abed Advocates, Mr Twahir told the court that he reported these alleged illegalities to the company’s board but they were not investigated.
Mr Twahir told Justice Linnet Ndolo that he wants “compensation for unlawful termination from employment, gratuity payment and general damages”.
But the company says Mr Twahir was sacked because of “gross misconduct”.
“In the year 2016, it was discovered that Mr Twahir had engaged in dubious activities amounting to gross misconduct. Termination of his employment had nothing to do with his retirement age. We further deny his allegations of harassment at work,” the company says.
Justice Ndolo ruled that Mr Twahir’s sacking was substantively and procedurally unfair and awarded him Sh1.5 million as compensation.
“Overall, this case reveals an employer on a fishing expedition to find an excuse to get rid of an employee for collateral reasons. I further find that the disciplinary process initiated by the firm against the claimant was choreographed to reach a predetermined outcome of termination of employment,” the judge said.
Mr Twahir has returned to the courts again, claiming more than Sh61 million from MJ Clarke for loss of earnings from lorries he bought from the firm but was not issued with logbooks.
