Below is a submission from employees at Segera Ranch, a private resort located in the heart of Laikipia.
The workers claim they have been facing untold suffering at the vast retreat owned by ex-CEO of PUMA Jochen Zeitz and overseen by two managers, Jens Kozany and Benaiah Odhiambo.
“Hi Nyakundi, I am about to send you a story, kindly hide my identity.
Segera Ranch where sustainability is driven by exploitation.
Owned by former Puma CEO and the current Harley Davidson President & CEO.
It’s rather unfortunate that whistle-blowing has been left as the only resort to address the injustices and reign of terror that have created a toxic working environment that is no longer bearable at Segera Ltd.
Segera sustainability based on 4Cs is a fallacy anchored on the exploitation of staff, intimidation, tribalism, greenwashing, and total disregard for existing labor laws.
The axis of this evil is a bunch of incompetents and selfish demigods, a German narcissist General Manager (GM) Jens Kozany, and a tribal kingpin, lord of corruption and impunity Ranch Manager (RM) Benaiah Odhiambo both of whom continue to violate poor employees’ rights and manipulate the community for their own survival and greed.
The GM & RM have riddled the company with corruption and impunity from top to bottom with the managers turning a blind eye to their associates’ wrongdoing and sacking any staff who try to expose wrongdoing in the company.
The staff turnover is crazy.
Below we will highlight the injustices individually, collectively, and summarily.
These atrocities have been hidden for a long by silencing any staff who dares to speak up.
We will attempt to provide as much information as possible without compromising the informants’ identities avoiding specifics where their identities are jeopardized
The tourism establishment is run by an egocentric selfish one man’s show – The General Manager.
Brown-nosed workers are given favors as others toil in futility.
No structures, just brown-nosing.
Overwork employees, do not unionize, no service charge, and exposure of employee private medical records by HR using underhand tactics.
The German GM has been in the company for close to 10 years and one wonders what criteria or special skills he possesses that Kenyans lack for the immigration ministry to repeatedly renew the work permit to this paranoid racist.
His continued stay allows him to complete a camp similar to Sobibor full of cruelty and untold misery to employees who have been psychologically tortured to the limit.
A lot of employees here are fighting mental health issues and other ailments that come with a toxic and stressful work environment.
Assault
In 2018 a moran waiter assaulted a waitress and was terminated only to be returned by the GM 4 months later and promoted to a senior waiter to appease guests with the Maasai culture.
The assaulted waitress and who was the complainant was onwards mistreated, intimated, and humiliated by the GM for reporting the assault.
The GM even told her that she needs to better understand other people’s culture where the morans are known to beat women and is never a headline.
The waitress could not withstand the reign of terror unleashed on her by the GM and had to resign a month later.
Since the incident, no female staff feels safe reporting any form of abuse.
Conflict of interest
Conflict of interest is rife in the organization starting with the GM who employed Asian boyfriend Adarsh without a clear role in the organization and has been receiving special favors and salary increments without merit.
The incompetent guy has influenced their family businesses into supply jobs at the company with his family delivering food supplies, and timber and also contracted to do repair works at the lodge.
Racial prejudice
The Asian feels entitled, special, and looks down on African employees, and has created a hell on earth and if he does not like you or you cross his path he will ensure you get sacked without regard for labor laws.
Just last month a kitchen employee upon returning from off days was terminated without being given any valid reason or wrongdoing despite his contract being valid until early 2023.
Staff working at the high-end lodge are nicely dressed and we are coerced to act being happy working for the company despite being overworked and rewarded with peanuts salary where guests pay close to Sh200k per night.
It is a pity that despite guests paying such huge sums have to look after their valuables from poorly paid and demoralized staff.
Just recently a guest lost thousands of dollars that were stolen from his villa by staff and the matter is already in a Nanyuki court.
Similar other cases of guest valuables and money being stolen have been on the raise and are normally resolved under the water by the GM to hide their shame.
The cash tips box has been stolen twice within a year with rumors flying around staff are agitated by the GM who has been seen on different occasions pocketing money meant for staff tips from guests.
Segera bed of lies
During morning briefs we are coached on how to portray an image of a well-run sustainable lodge to guests with a positive impact on the community, environment, and employees just to appease guests for donations.
It is also pitying to note that guests from some nationalities are treated way better and receive better services than guests from certain countries by the GM.
Guests only know we running completely on green energy but in reality, we all know the diesel-powered generators are running most of the time.
We also have convinced guests that the trenches dug on the ranch borders help “conserve pristine land” by keeping illegal pastoralists and invaders away but in reality the trenches become death traps for wildlife and many other countless lies.
Dirty office politics
The other demigod is the ruthless ranch manager herein referred to as the RM who also doubles as the de facto HR.
The incompetent RM thrives in chaos and as such, creates chaos.
It is fair to note the political, backstabbing, and pitiful nature in which the individual came to be in that position.
No academic qualification, zero prior experience.
RM is also best at transacting one currency “fear-mongering” to manipulate, divide and rule. Isolate the ones he disregards and creep in with the savior superiority complex.
He bad mouths the director, GM decisions, and other senior staff to anyone who cares to listen including junior staff when things don’t go his way or whenever frustrated.
Whenever he gets into an altercation with staff the RM has a habit of saying “ondoka ama nikupige risasi!” sending shivers.
Firstly, the reckless disregard for rule of law, humanity, and labor practices is very apparent as the RM acts as the de facto HR.
Theft of livestock and Harassment of local community
This person’s incompetence cannot be understated in the events leading up to the ranch invasions and the eventual death of staff members.
Illegal cattle were arrested and brought close to staff quarters by his order leading to a rescue operation by an irate public that put lives at risk.
The ensuing ill-advised digging of a trench to keep away the invaders was only to benefit him from corrupt dealing on colluding with the supplier of the hired excavator.
The trench whose environmental impacts were never well researched did not leave up to its expectation of keeping illegal herders away and has become a wildlife death trap even affecting the migration routes for wildlife the company is now considering filling it up quietly before a storm brews.
Poor women from the community in search of firewood in the ranch have faced the worst atrocities in the name of teaching them a lesson from some marauding rogue security employees at the command of the RM.
Women young and old have been sexually harassed, beaten, and maimed because of firewood.
The local elected leaders cannot speak up for the community rights or the open injustices towards community staff since they benefit from a grazing arrangement for their livestock with the RM and would not like to harm their selfish interests.
Our prayer is these women will one day garner courage and the right guidance to seek justice for atrocities committed against them.
In fact, RM runs the security department in chaos where mediocrity and bad-mouthing are rewarded with favors, kickbacks, and promotions at the expense of diligent and hardworking rangers.
Senior security staff who have refused to be compromised or used in RM’s dirty and illegal money-minting activities have been humiliated repeatedly and forced to report to junior rangers to cut them into size.
This year 2 rangers were arrested and arraigned in court for allowing illegal grazing on the ranch by charging a fee on behalf of their master and were sacrificed by the lord of corruption to cover his tracks.
Rangers that don’t bow to the RM’s illegal activities are eventually set up for eventual sacking or taken to isolated camps at the edge of the ranch for psychological torture.
The RM has operated a grand theft scheme in the livestock department where he recruited a livestock staff who comes from the community into his fold with a promise of promotion and in return brings in his livestock for grazing on company land for free and uses it as a conduit to steal and move out company livestock.
The scheme was executed by having herders aligned to RM and his fellow tribesman who headed the livestock department then to steal calves which were then reported as dead in company records or by completely avoiding recording newborns.
When the scheme leaked due to infighting on how to share the loot his tribesman head of livestock resigned and the livestock staff from the community was eventually terminated to conceal any evidence from surfacing.
One can only imagine the number of company livestock that have since moved out in this manner.
The ethnical cleansing is also clear in the hiring, firing, and promotions on the ranch side.
His open sexual immorality notwithstanding.
We are not blind to these activities; our silence is a result of witnessing the dubious discarding of employees speaking up.
Who wants to lose a job in this environment?
Use and dump is the order of the day.
The RM is a self-confessed tribalist and does not hide his disdain for staff from the Kikuyu community.
In 2019 a junior livestock staff openly hurled tribal insults at a fellow worker.“
