Employees at TET Tea Factory, part of the Kipchichim Group of Companies, have raised concerns over an alarming rate of staff dismissals and interference by directors’ relatives in the running of the business.
In a complaint sent to Nyakundi Report, a worker claims that the directors are ignoring the views of the company’s management and instead listening to relatives who, according to the complainant, spend their time gossiping rather than carrying out responsibilities within the factory.
The worker questions why the directors would hire senior managers if they are not prepared to rely on their professional judgment when making decisions affecting employees. The complaint suggests that the interference is undermining the authority of the management team and creating uncertainty among workers, particularly amid claims that employees are being dismissed at an alarming rate.
The complainant also questions whether relatives who are not formally appointed to management positions should have such influence over decisions affecting the factory and its workforce.
The worker has compared the situation to the collapse of Nakumatt Supermarket, warning that continued interference in management decisions could damage the factory if the concerns are not addressed. The complainant’s message to Nyakundi Report reads in full:
Hello Cyprian, kindly hide my identity.I work at TET Tea Factory, one of the companies under the Kipchichim Group of Companies, and I would like to raise concerns about how the factory is being managed.The directors appear to be ignoring the advice of professional managers and instead listening to their relatives, whose main activities, according to employees, involve gossiping rather than doing actual work. Meanwhile, the rate at which employees are being dismissed is alarming, leaving workers worried about their job security and the future of the company. My question is simple. Why hire top managers if the directors will not trust them to handle the employees and run the company professionally? If relatives are now making management decisions, what exactly is the role of the people who were hired and paid to do that work? What is even more disturbing is the way some of these relatives reportedly speak to senior staff, as though the company belongs to them personally and everyone else is answerable to them. This is a business, not a family playground where people can issue orders without regard for professionalism or the established chain of command. I fear that if the directors continue running the factory this way, TET Tea Factory could eventually suffer the same fate as Nakumatt Supermarket. A company cannot thrive when personal relationships and gossip are allowed to take priority over professional management and the welfare of employees. We are appealing to the directors of the Kipchichim Group of Companies to listen to their management team, review the increasing employee dismissals and restore professionalism at TET Tea Factory before the situation gets worse.
Information published on the Kipchimchim Group’s official website confirms that TET Tea Factory is part of the group’s tea processing business. The company says the factory was established in 2021 and is located in Kimulot, Bomet County, with capacity to process up to 110 tonnes of green leaf daily. The group describes itself as an operator of several tea factories and other businesses, making the concerns raised by employees a matter for its senior leadership to address.
The Labour Department can examine complaints of unfair termination where affected employees formally report them.
Nyakundi Report is calling on the directors of the Kipchimchim Group and TET Tea Factory to address the concerns raised by their employees.
Why hire senior managers if their decisions can be undermined by relatives, and what explanation does the company have for the reported wave of dismissals?