Series Start – Slavery: For Kenyans Working With Indians, It Is 1619 Everyday
Hi Nyakundi,
We all know how Indians and Whites (Mzungu) mistreat employees. And the fact that they control a huge chunk of the formal economy while the government makes the cost of starting a business unbearably high leaves most with little other options.
I had a sales job at an Indian run (but not owned) firm in industrial area. The production and logistics managers can best be described as a slice of hell on earth. All the senior management except for the HR and about half of the junior management are of Indian descent.
But I only came to learn that the Indians only owned 25% of the shareholding with the rest being owned by some local politicians. These local politicians were silent partners disinterested in the running of the firm probably because the funds invested there are seeds of corruption and they’d like to keep it low key, just like Harun Mwau was in Nakumatt.
The production manager was an angry racist fellow. There were some newspapers delivered to the firm in the morning and he wouldn’t read his if any local touched it. And if that local was in his department he would be fired immediately. Greeting him in the morning was an offence similar to urinating on a church’s door. He only ever talked to fellow Indians and 3 local junior managers who were basically his pawns, seemingly kissing his boots willy nilly.
The logistics manager was on the other hand a very foul mouthed lady. She’d abuse the casuals in a very demeaning way like “Did you people even get past nursery”, “How can someone this stupid be employed, only because your person (non Indian) is HR” etc. Those who were unfortunate to work there with their parents would be told. “You are as foolish as your father”
But, karma is quite different. I had sales clients in parklands who were Indians and just as foul-mouthed. The company would give very skewed trade deals to favor them. A Kenyan business in Githurai purchasing items worth Ksh. 100k every week would be forced to pay cash with the pricing leaving them with very tight profit margins. But an Indian one in parklands buying items every 2 weeks worth Ksh.10k would be given a 2 week cheque, better pricing and priority supply for hotcake commodities.
I came to learn that most of parklands, the Indian stronghold is actually owned by Kikuyus. And these Kikuyus even the play ground for us.
An Indian tenant in a small kiosk sized room will pay 200k, 6 months upfront. And the Kiuks would wake up one day, decide to double the rent and demand 1 year upfront, the hapless Indians would be powerless against them. Almost half of my Indian clients were driven out of business like this. And I personally know of 2 who are literally paupers because of that.
There’s a reason why Indians have started popping in numbers in Langata, south B etc. Life just got unbearable in in their little India called parklands.
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Indians Vs Kenyans: Let’s Just Declare Kenya An Apartheid State
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