We are deeply disheartened about the horrible experiences reported by a section of our community. Kakuzi PLC has a moral and social responsibility to ensure victims of human rights abuse get access to justice and the perpetrators are brought to book. Our corporate policies and measures to handle such are not static and evolve to accommodate feedback and input from our employees, community and other stakeholders. 

In 2018 we met with the UN Working Group on Human Rights and they presented us with concerns as outlined in their final statement on their website. We immediately took steps to address these. In 2019 the same allegations were made through the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). An independent audit of the allegations and our policies was conducted. This culminated in a mutually agreed action plan which included but was not limited to:

• Conducting a Human Rights training for Management and Security Supervisors (by The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights)
• Increasing our interactions with the community through the engagement of a Community Liaison.
• Reviewing the security operations,
• Improving our external grievance handling mechanism
• Publishing and growing our SHARP (Sexual Harassment, Awareness, Reporting and Prevention) program.

Currently, without interfering with the ongoing Police investigations, we are enhancing our measures to include:

• The establishment of an Independent Human Rights Oversight Committee (IHROC) that will advise and create a Human Rights Action Plan.
• The recruitment of a Manager to oversee the review and implementation of the Human Rights Action Plan.
• Provide further Human Rights refresher training for our security team and employees.
• Restructuring our security department including adopting technology.
• Setting up a community drop-in/walk-in center to enable the communities’ access to the Company to report and discuss any incidents or any form of complaint. The first is being constructed near Kinyangi trading center and will be staffed by a member of our Community liaison team.
   

The above list is not comprehensive and we continue to look at how we can improve our polices and measures further. 

Kakuzi PLC does not condone any form of violence or human rights abuse. We are committed to working closely with the community and relevant authorities to ensure these matters are investigated and addressed.

If you wish to report any matter affecting individuals in relation to our operations or the conduct of our staff, please contact: confidential@kakuzi.co.ke or Text/WhatsApp +254 745718864 / +254 726610846.