Jeddidah Thotho, CEO BATA Shoe Kenya PLC Bata Shoe company is struggling to stay afloat.
In previous articles, we’ve highlighted the continuous downtrend for the shoemaker. I will highlight it later.
New information coming out of the company shows that it is keen to regain its market share with one serious handicap. Its business model is becoming unsustainable.
After a three-year hiatus, the company recently opened a new store along Mombasa road.
A 2019 court battle between it and Human Resource company H.R. Strategic Partners exposed the level of rot in employee treatment.
Bata Shoe procured the services of H.R. Strategic Partners at Sh417,000 per month for the supply of manpower to the shoe firm. This was irrespective of how many employees have been supplied.
Bata protested a few years later claiming that an internal audit Sh32.5 million was paid to the HR firm through inflated invoices.
For the above, Bata sued the directors and senior managers of H.R Strategic Partners, Mr Moses Kinuthia and Ms Teresia Njuguna. Bata financial woes Nonetheless, the company which manufactures shoes out of Limuru, Kiambu county has often engaged in shady ways to stay in business.
In the sunset of Mwai Kibaki’s presidency, some Kenyans raised issues with the deteriorating quality of shoes sold by Bata.
Some sources would later claim that the company has cut corners and was sourcing the goods from China.
Fast forward to 2020, the issue of illegal immigrants brought in to plug turnover of quality staff was highlighted.
Some experienced and qualified people in the lower departments reached out to EACC to help them.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission didn’t respond to that letter, they only acknowledged receipt.
They also wrote a letter to the Department of Immigration services over the matter.
Both government agencies didn’t respond.
Then Bata managing director Alberto Errico bribed the Ethics and Anti-Corruption officials to ignore a complaint, we had reported.
The corruption at Bata became bold to the point of threatening whistleblowers with unspecified consequences. Discrimination In the letter to EACC, anonymous employees exposed how Bata senior management was discriminating against Kenyans by hiring Asians despite qualified Kenyans by way of bribing immigration.
The complaint letter had also raised an issue on how Bata is polluting the environment by burning coal and recycling plastics and getting away with all these crimes by bribing then Nema director-general Geoffrey Wahungu. Bata staff letter to EACC
The above is mentioned in the attached EACC letter which was forwarded to me by one person who had come across it and realized that it was a complaint launched a long time ago and nothing was done.
We can also report that there are certain employees who enjoy the protection of the managing director and the chief security officer (a former DCIO) and use it to extort money from suppliers and contractors in false promises. Nothing is done about it despite the victims reporting to Tigoni
We still request the new president William Ruto to do something about corrupt foreigners manipulating the system in their own favour