A wholesale and retail business in Bungoma is at the centre of alarming claims involving worker mistreatment, intimidation, and alleged collusion with local authorities.
The establishment, known locally as Mahadev Drapers, has reportedly become a place of quiet fear for casual workers employed at its Mashambani-area godown.
Sources familiar with the company’s internal environment allege that workers, mostly hired on a day-to-day basis, are subjected to harsh treatment.
Before being allowed into the premises each morning, staff are allegedly ordered to surrender their phones and undergo searches, measures said to be aimed at preventing the capture or sharing of any footage from inside the facility.
The situation is said to be made worse by claims that some of the region’s most powerful political and administrative figures are either benefitting from or turning a blind eye to the goings-on.
From local ward representatives to senior law enforcement officials, several names have been mentioned in connection with what appears to be a wide net of influence shielding the business from accountability.
Those familiar with the matter describe a climate of fear and silence where workers reportedly refrain from speaking out, even when questioned, for fear of retaliation.
Calls are now being made to the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection to dispatch national-level officers to Bungoma and initiate an independent inquiry, amid growing fears that local administrators and police officials are too compromised to act impartially.
“Hi Nyakundi. Please hide my ID. There is an Indian wholesale and retail company in Bungoma by the name Mahadev Drapers. The residents call the owner Mahadev. So this guy is mistreating the staff so badly. The first thing he does in the morning before the staff (vibaruas) enter the godown premises, which is located at Mashambani area, is he confiscates all their phones and searches them thoroughly so that they cannot record what is going on there. He beats them with a jembe stick and none of them complains or goes to report to Bungoma Police Station because all the police bosses are on his payslip. So they are afraid of being thrown into the cells and taken to court for something that they don’t know. It’s very sad to see how these innocent Kenyans are treated by a foreigner of Indian origin. To make the matter worse, this man bribes even the MCAs, our MP Hon. Makali, and worse still, the National Assembly Speaker doesn’t buy groceries—this man supplies him free of charge. Now tell me, where will these poor Kenyans go to report if the same people that they expect to help them are in this man’s pocket? Why can’t the Bungoma labour department help these people or the human rights advocates in Bungoma? One of the guys told me that he’s very optimistic that even if the police come there and ask them if they are being abused, mistreated or harassed in any way, they won’t say anything because of fear. Please help these guys. Thanks.”
