Eight months after the British Council absolved a section of its senior officers accused of racism and other forms of discrimination in Kenya, not has changed at the colonial organization.
In the latest turn of events, devout Kenyan staff members have launched a fresh protest against the prevalent oppression and prejudice at the colonial organization.
The council’s executive now faces allegations of embezzling funds meant for the auxiliary workforce and dishing out threats of termination to anyone that dares complain.
Sources inform us that recently, a casual worker who diligently served for over eight (8) years received an underwhelming send-off after he politely asked to leave the organization and seek greener pastures.
As things stand, there is a deep sense of demotivation as suffering employees grapple with grave injustices that go unpunished.
To make matters worse, all their trips to the labour office have proven futile.
They reckon that representatives from the council have compromised the officeholders with fat brown envelopes.
Most have been intimidated into silence.
“Dear Cyprian,
We would like to expose racism, oppression, prejudice and much more, happening here in Kenya by the British and KC’s to Kenyan staff, and ESP auxiliary who are stolen from, silenced with threats of terminating them and their families as it’s sort of community staff.
The labour offices are bribed up to their necks that they close offices when expelled staff make appointments to report.
I promise you it is a little Buckingham.
The last straw was a guy who had been employed as casual for 8 yes!
Yes, 8. And when he asked to leave, they shushed him like he was a parasite.
That is just the tip of the iceberg.
There are other shocking matters that just go silenced.
The chair of the board is someone you exposed once.
You did good, As it pushed him off, but all furry fell on us and these poor people,” the source writes.
In January 2022, the British Council has launched an inquiry into allegations from current and former Kenyan staff members who claim they were subjected to systemic racism.
Senior white executives at the organization, which is described as the “British government’s cultural arm abroad” were accused of discriminating against Kenyan-born staff, particularly as they were selected and assessed for redundancy.
A letter drafted by seven (7) current and former staff members sparked shockwaves in July 2021 when it was sent to the British Council as well as the Kenyan authorities.
Some cases highlighted by the victims included selective redundancy threats, systematic discrimination through the workload, performance and recruitment processes, discrimination on medical grounds and duplicitous disciplinaries.
“Performance management, change programs, disciplinary procedures, and workload has been successfully used by the British Council in Kenya under the leadership not only of the current Country Director Jill Coates, but also of past Directors such as Tony Reilly to punish, harass, bully, and discriminate against Kenyans.”
“The cases underline a repeated practice by white members of staff to constantly assign Kenyans as underperformers, inadequate, unskilled, unprofessional, and suspects as the organization abuses its procedures and systems to validate its discriminative practice,” read the 10-page letter.
A former Programme Manager claimed they experienced discrimination, harassment and unfair treatment for over two years, which contributed to their hospitalization for severe depression.
According to the former staff, they were threatened with a redundancy notice on unclear grounds.
“I remained at risk of redundancy, for over two (2) years, which is legally not procedural and manifestly inhumane and unfair. After failing to terminate my employment through redundancy in February 2019, British Council began subjecting me to unfair treatment in a bid to force me out of employment,” added the letter.
