COTU DEMANDS IMMEDIATE DEPORTATION OF CHINESE NATIONAL FOR ASSAULTING KENYAN WORKER

The Central Organization of Trade Unions COTU, has issued a demand for the immediate deportation of a Chinese national captured on video physically assaulting a Kenyan employee at the TCM Mabati Factory in Eldoret.

The demand was formally made in a letter to the Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, Kipchumba Murkomen, stated it is “deeply concerned by the prevalent cases of abuse of Kenyan workers by foreign investors” and cited the viral video as a disturbing example.

In the letter, COTU Secretary General, Dr. Francis Atwoli, said that the organisation is “appalled by this incident, which is a gross violation of the rights and dignity of the affected.” He added that as the voice and defender of Kenyan workers, COTU “will not stand by and watch the dignity of Kenyan workers violated by some rogue foreign employers operating within our borders.”

Atwoli mentioned a separate case from just last week, where COTU called for the deportation of another Chinese investor at the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) for forcing Kenyan workers to sing Chinese songs and for verbally abusing a union official.

COTU’s letter concludes with an ultimatum, stating that anything less than the immediate deportation of the individual involved in the TCM Mabati assault “would be a betrayal of the trust Kenyan workers have placed in your Ministry and the Government at large.”

Furthermore, the trade union body has urged the Ministry of Interior to collaborate with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection to strengthen monitoring, compliance, and enforcement measures within enterprises run by foreign nationals to prevent such abuses in the future.