CAPTION: Bedi Investments Ltd CEO Jaswinder Singh Bedi Disgruntled workers contracted by a local textiles manufacturer based in Nakuru County are up in arms against their employer.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, an employee at Bedi Investments Ltd revealed that as the company's owners continue to rip big financial returns, workers at their milling factory have been living in suffering.
In a message anonymously sent to nyakundireport.com , the source disclosed that labourers at the firm owned by Asian tycoon Jaswinder Singh Bedi are yet to receive salaries and arrears since the month of December 2021.
To make matters worse, those who try to speak up are met by heavy punishment.
When a group of vocal workers took the bold decision and stood up to demand an explanation for the mistreatment, the administration at Bedi Investments Ltd called for their arrest by corrupt police officers from a nearby station.
The CEO Jaswinder Bedi is said to have personally ordered the men in blue to unleash terror to be unleashed on the complainants.
Interestingly, all the involved parties were later released with no charges preferred against them. "Hallo Nyakundi. I am drawn to a list of the richest families in Kenya and I am shocked to see a fraud by the name Jaswinder Bedi. As third on the list am laughing because the workers in Bedi's company are not being paid to the extent they are still owed their arrears for December. And when workers try to demand their dues police are called on them and their leaders' arrest of which no charges are prefered on them," our source explains in part of the message forwarded to our newsdesk. At Bedi Investments Ltd, the mistreatment of employees is an open secret.
But unfortunately, the company's owners have conditioned the desperate employees into falsely believing that their fate is hopeless.
Bedi and his associates are said to often make this clear by openly bragging of deep connections within President Uhuru Kenyatta's government.
For the workers, respect is a rare privilege. "In Nakuru, Bedi is the worst company to work in. Workers are exploited and they can do nothing about it because the ownersy brag how they are known in government and they are so rude to their workers. No wonder they are 3rd and Uhuru 4th in richness. Expose these idiots Nyakundi so that the men and women working for them can be accorded respect," reads the rest of the message. In a recent report published by Oxfam International, a global charity organisation that fights inequality, Bedi was among the Asians that dominated Kenya’s rich list.
The files showed that Sameer Naushad Merali held onto his title of Kenya's richest man with a net worth of $790 million (Sh89.6 billion) as Bhimji Depar Shah rose one spot to take second place with a net worth of $790 million (Sh89.6 billion).
Listed as one of the biggest movers for 2019 was Jaswinder Singh Bedi with 680 million (Sh77.1 billion) for his work in running one of the largest textile factories in the country.
As of the publishing of this post, Bedi Investment Ltd was yet to issue a comment regarding these allegations.
Our efforts to contact the firm proved fruitless as all our calls went to voicemail.