Nairobi News

Brookside Limited is set to retrench more than 50 per cent of its staff in Uganda as a means to match their current scale of business following Kenyan government interference.

In their statement from the Human Resource and Administration Manager, Winnie Mugabi, in March 2023, the Kenyan government stopped giving Brookside export permits to Kenya which forms 75 per cent of their market, with 25 per cent of their products consumed in Uganda and other countries in the region.

“Since then, the Company has been trying to mitigate the effects of these adverse developments by trying to grow local sales and also source for alternative markets for its products in replacement of the blocked Kenyan market,” Ms Mugabi said.

“Having worked on these initiatives for the last 3 months, it is apparent that we are unlikely to realize tangible results from the initiatives in the short run. We have also engaged the relevant authorities in Government to intervene but without any success,” she explained.

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She also said this blockage has reduced Brookside’s scale of operations across the entire value chain to 25 per cent. As a result, the company has announced it would lawfully terminate employees on account of structural reasons.

“In light of the above, over 50 per cent of our staff will regrettably be affected by way of retrenchment intended to take effect in the month of July 2023. We will continue to engage other relevant authorities in government as well as look for alternative markets for our products; and should the situation improve, we shall embark on staff recruitment to reverse this unfortunate decision,” Ms Mugabi said.

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has been at the forefront of championing the cause of ending monopolies of some companies, especially in the milk and gas sectors. These two sectors are said to be monopolized by his government’s main critics and opponents, former president Uhuru Kenyatta and Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga respectively.

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In March, Gachagua said the Kenya Kwanza government is not out to destroy the two leaders’ families but to end their monopoly and create a level playing field for all Kenyans.

“In the milk sector, we had one person controlling it. That’s why they did not want us in power. They wanted to continue exploiting Kenyans and enriching themselves,” Gachagua said then.

He also claimed that the monopoly held by the Kenyatta family in the milk sector is as a result of the company buying out all milk companies in the country. He vowed to tackle this as part of his agricultural reforms agenda.

However, many continue to read politics into Gachagua’s motives against the Kenyatta and Odinga families.

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