Police in Kakamega County had on Saturday August 22 arrested a middle-aged man purported to be the manager of Frodak Company for accused of sexually preying on his female juniors at work.
The head of the company which was contracted to offer cleaning services at Butali Sugar Mills Limited, was allegedly caught luring his colleague, Elemina Katam, to sleep with him on Thursday afternoon August 20.
The top administrator had gone to the woman’s house in Malava, when her husband was away, police revealed.
“He is using his position to frustrate women at the company. Every time he approaches a female worker that he is interested in, he often tells her to sleep with him or else she loses her job,” alleged Elemina.
“The first time he made advances at me, I rejected him. He, however, kept on persisting to the extent of coming to my house when my husband was away. There was this day he had come to my residence, and even accessed my bedroom. When he was in the process of attempting to undress me, my husband arrived. My spouse asked him to commit in writing that he will never harass me sexually again, which my manager did.
Elemina added that he recently started pestering her again, saying he wanted to see her.
“I asked him to come to my place on Thursday afternoon, which he did. While in the house, he seduced and ordered me to sleep with him. I refused. He, however, used force to pull me to the bed, forcing me to scream. Luckily, my husband, who had returned home from visiting his parents, found him in the house.” she narrated.
Elemina’s husband, Tom Lando, told police that the suspect had, in previous occasions, sexually preyed on his wife without success.
“After failing to entice my wife to sleep with him, he sent her on a 3-month mandatory leave. Yesterday (Thursday, August 20), he told my wife that he wanted to see her. Because my partner feared losing her job, she allowed him to come over. While he was attempting to pin her to the bed, I arrived and forced him to stop what he was doing. I am now urging police to charge the suspect with sexual harassment,” said Lando.
However, a section of staff members at Frodak company allege that Elemina and her husband trapped the suspect so that they could extort money from him.
“For a while now, the alleged victim has been targeting the manager for extortion. She recently said she would obtain Ksh100,000 from him by all means,” said Felistus Wasula, an employee of Frodak.
Elemina’s relative, Boaz Wanami, revealed culturally, the suspect should pay a fine of three cows, several sheep and Ksh200,000 for “attempting to sleep with a married woman in her house, an act which never goes unpunished according to Luhya customs”.
The suspect, who was badly beaten before being handed over to police on Thursday evening, is currently being held at the Malava Police Station.
Kenya’s Rule on Sexual Harassment
Section 23(1) of Kenya’s Sexual Offences Act (2006) criminalises sexual harassment.
“Any person, who being in a position of authority, or holding a public office, who persistently makes any sexual advances or requests which he or she knows, or has reasonable grounds to know, are unwelcome, is guilty of the offence of sexual harassment and shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than three years or to a fine of not less than one hundred thousand shillings or to both,” documents the Law.
Part 2 of Section 23 of the Act states that it shall be necessary to prove in a charge of sexual harassment provided that
- The submission or rejection by the person to whom advances or requests are made is intended to be used as basis of employment or of a decision relevant to the career of the alleged victim or of a service due to a member of the public in the case of a public officer.
- Such advances or requests have the effect of interfering with the alleged victim’s work or educational performance or creating an offensive working or learning environment for the alleged victim or denial of a service due to the member of the public from a public office.
WAN-IFRA Women in News and City, University of London on August 19 initiated a major study into sexual harassment in the media workplace in select countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the Arab Region and Southeast Asia.
This study centred on research done in 2018 which identified a gap in available data on sexual harassment in media specifically in these regions.
“We know that sexual harassment is common in many workplaces – and the media industry is no exception. However, without the hard data to show this it is difficult to understand the extent of the problem media professionals face.” revealed Rebecca Zausmer, Director Knowledge and Operations, Women in News.
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