National Assembly Calls for Probe into Sexual Abuse Reports on Tea Plantations

The National Assembly has called for investigations into the reports of sexual abuse on tea plantations.

The assembly directed the Labor Committee to probe the alleged malice happening in tea plantations.

Moreover, this call comes following an expose by the BBC where more than 70 women on tea farms, owned by two British companies, said they have suffered some type of sexual harassment from their supervisors at work.

The joint investigation by BBC Panorama and BBC Africa Eye revealed that some of the women have been pressured into having sex with their bosses in return for work.

In addition, in the expose, a secret footage shows a recruitment manager for the Scottish firm James Finlay & Company cornering an undercover reporter, demanding for sex.

This happens during what was meant to be a job interview.

Nonetheless, James Finlay and Co told the BBC that they have suspended and stopped the employee from accessing the tea farms adding that they reported him to the police.

While reacting to the claims of the investigations, Sainsbury’s told the BBC that the allegations have no place in their supply chain.

On the other end, Tesco stated that it is in “constant dialogue” with the company to ensure “robust measures” are taken.

James Finlay and Co supplies tea to Sainsbury’s and Tesco supermarkets.

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Furthermore, a separate video in the expose shows two managers sexually harassing an undercover investigator at a tea farm which was, at the time of filming, owned by British Dutch company Unilever.

However, in response to the investigations, Unilever told the BBC that it is “deeply shocked and saddened” by the allegations.

Unilever said they have dismissed employees who breached its Code of Conduct, and any criminality has been reported to the police.

As such, the National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gladys Shollei directed that the report be tabled in the house in two weeks.