Allegations of employee mistreatment, discriminatory policies, and unethical labour practices have emerged from within the Karen branch of Chinese-owned retail chain “China Square” that has rapidly expanded across Nairobi.
Internal reports and testimonies from staff paint a troubling picture of workplace abuse, systemic nepotism and deliberate subversion of employment rights by a small group of senior local administrators operating below the radar of corporate oversight.
At the center of the grievances is a network of management figures allegedly bound by family ties, accused of manipulating hiring and firing processes for personal gain.
Staff members claim that the Human Resource manager, closely related to both the operations manager in Karen and a previously dismissed executive from the Kisumu branch, has created an environment where contracts are weaponized and staff turnover is driven by favoritism, corruption and internal deals rather than performance or merit.
One of the most concerning developments has been the abrupt shift in employment terms for frontline workers.
Whereas previous staff were hired under year-long contracts, recent employees were allegedly offered three-month agreements that expired earlier this year.
This shift, insiders claim, was not guided by business necessity but rather designed to make it easier to lay off existing staff and replace them with new hires, often candidates willing to pay for their positions through informal channels.
The internal disciplinary process has also reportedly been manipulated to support these targeted layoffs.
Staff allege that they are frequently issued with written warning letters for minor infractions where verbal guidance would typically suffice.
These warnings, they say, are accumulated and later used as justification for dismissal, conveniently clearing the way for pre-selected candidates to take over their roles.
Concerns over these internal dynamics have also been amplified by what many see as an egregious disregard for the rights of female employees.
Sources claim that women who go on maternity leave are often forced to choose between unpaid leave or resignation, with little to no assurance of reinstatement afterward.
This form of exclusion has reportedly contributed to a growing climate of fear and silence, where workers are discouraged from asserting their rights due to the looming threat of retaliation or job loss.
While the top Chinese management of the company has so far escaped direct criticism, internal voices suggest that the current crisis stems from their lack of close oversight and failure to follow through on promises to audit human resources practices across branches.
An earlier commitment by the CEO to investigate and restructure HR management has allegedly stalled, allowing entrenched actors at the branch level to continue exploiting their positions unchecked.
What is particularly disheartening to many observers is the role played by local administrators in perpetuating these injustices.
Despite being in positions of power and trust, some local managers are accused of turning against their fellow workers, not out of corporate directive, but personal greed.
Employees describe a workplace culture where abuse is normalized and where even basic protections like maternity rights and fair contracts are stripped away to create space for patronage and profit.
“Hi Cyprian, kindly hide my ID. I’m texting this in regards to the employee injustice that has been going on in China Square, especially in their Karen branch, where the Human Resource Manager by the name Joyce Koskey and who’s a sister to the Kisumu operations manager called Cess Koskey, who was fired on camera but brought back to work silently by her after some months to oversee a new mini China Square shop which is coming up just opposite China Square Karen, together with her husband’s sister who is the China Square Karen operations manager and goes by the name Oliver.
Now, these two have been orchestrating unwarranted staff layoffs, and to facilitate this better, they gave staff a three-month contract which expired in March this year, down from the one-year which was issued to them in 2024 and 2023, which is wrong according to the laws of the land. They are doing this so as to bring in their own and, of course, sell these positions to the highest bidder.
At times, you find an employee has been issued with a written warning letter in a case where a verbal warning could apply, and then after some time they tell you the bosses have said we start getting rid of those with many warning letters, which is not true. Chances are, they’ve gotten someone who is willing to pay them for your position.
Kindly help post this, and if possible, I request the Workers Commission to do an inquiry into this, because honestly, wasee huku ndani wanateswa na hawa watu wawili, but they just keep quiet and abide by them because of the fear of losing their jobs na venye Kasongo ameamua kufanya economy ikue ngumu zaidi.
Na kusema tu ukweli, the Chinese bosses are not bad and are not involved in this. Ni sisi Waafrika ndio we get some power kidogo and get drunk with it to the extent of treating our own the way we want.
Imagine, Cyprian, these guys are discriminatory to the extent that when someone goes for maternity leave, she has to resign from work or choose to proceed without pay, and chances of coming back are minimal.
The company CEO had promised to do an audit of the Human Resource managers who are located at their branches, something which never happened, and this has seriously affected the junior workers.”
We will continue to shine a spotlight on the toxic culture festering within companies where rogue managers exploit their positions to punish, extort, and silence employees, all while hiding behind temporary contracts and weak oversight structures.
In a time when the cost of living continues to skyrocket, it is not only unacceptable but downright cruel to allow such abuse to go unchecked.
Are you a current or former employee who has experienced or witnessed this kind of exploitation, whether at China Square or any other workplace?
We urge you to come forward and share your story securely and confidentially.
Your voice could be the spark that drives reform, exposes impunity and helps protect others from similar mistreatment.
