This archive report was first published on 10 December 2019.
On December 9, 2019, a Kisumu court declined to issue an order directing Botswana-based Choppies Supermarket to deposit Sh12.5 million as security for former employees who had moved to court seeking payment of their redundancy fees.
Senior Principal Magistrate Robinson Ondieki instead ordered the retailer to deposit Sh7 million as guarantee should the firm exit the country without paying their dues.
The court acknowledged that the Kenyan economy was not sound and that withholding a sum of Sh12 million from the company would have a devastating impact on the respondent.
Magistrate Ondieki ruled, 'I shall allow the application to the extent that the respondent deposits Sh7 million to the courts in the next 28 days and direct that the trial be expedited in order to inject monies back to the economy.'
The court also admitted that the struggling firm has foreign roots and that it would eventually exit the Kenyan market and go back to its motherland.
Former employees moved to court after the company closed some of its branches but failed to pay them redundancy fees amounting to Sh12.5 million.
