James Finlay Kenya company that owns tea plantations in Bomet and Kericho counties has received another blow after an international regulator objected to it’s products.
Rainforest Alliance, in a notice, announced the suspension of the company’s license due to what it called failure to meet social and management criteria.
Also affected is Ekatera Tea, formerly known as Unilever Tea Kenya, which operates in the two counties.
The suspension of the company’s activities comes after BBC television revealed allegations of sexual harassment of employees where more than 70 women were reported to have been sexually abused.
“For both tea estates, the inspection confirmed the existence of non-compliance with the social and management criteria of the Rainforest Alliance organization.
Based on these findings, we have taken the decision to suspend the audit of these two certificate holders, in accordance with V1.2 Principles and the Rainforest Alliance Audit Certificates,” the Alliance said in a statement.
“The relevant certificate holders have been notified, according to the rules of our program,” the statement added.
The Rainforest Alliance says it launched an independent investigation into the story aired by BBC Africa, which it found to be true.
The suspension means that tea exported by the two companies to international markets will not be accepted as it is not certified, which is set to have a negative impact on it’s sales when there is a lot of competition among different tea companies.
But the moratorium, the union says, will not affect tea shipped before the ban came into effect on May 9.
