ASA International Kenya Limited has been in the public focus over the past weeks with employees coming out to protest and lay bare the dark truth of what has become of the firm largely run by Bangladeshi nationals.
Complaints of mistreatment of workers has marred the internet.
Below are sampled complaints from insiders.
There’s an issue with a company called ASA Limited or ASA Kenya. These guys don’t want to increase salaries for employees who have been working for them, even though their salary should be increased annually according to an MOU signed that every two years salaries should be increased. They have avoided increasing salaries for everyone since last year when everyone was entitled to an increase, based on the agreement of every two years, not yearly increases.
When Uhuru signed basic minimum wages, they never implemented it, and everyone’s salary remains the same, even for entry-level positions. It’s weird because they increased interest rates citing economic conditions but don’t increase salaries for employees.
The company is very gender biased, with 85% of employees being women. For every branch, you’ll find 2 men to four women or even fewer. The excuse given is that men have been branded thieves, yet incidents that occur are just scenarios where men as breadwinners are in a fix as family providers, yet salaries are capped at a low level. You’ll find someone working there for almost 7 years, but their salary is around 37k. Even managers don’t have a salary scale; you can be managing someone who is paid more than you.
The company is run by Bangladesh Indians, who are some of the worst employers. These guys are brought to Kenya but paid more than Kenyan counterparts even when the job is the same. Some of the Bangladeshis lack the necessary skills, but they are paid in dollars, over 200,000K. They don’t pay rent; they are paid for food, travel allowance, and shopping. For them, everything is sorted out, and all they do is run around and mistreat people, especially when they don’t like you. Imagine someone getting paid that much, and everything they have here is sorted out, while the employees who do all the work are paid poorly.
When employees started complaining, the HR who was before was called Bernard, tried to defend most of the staff. He was forced out for trying to follow the law, and a new HR named Donny Ogogo was brought in. This guy worships the Indians even when an employee is wrongly castigated; he sides with the Indians. If a transfer comes and you tell the immediate boss you can’t go due to family reasons, Donny doesn’t want to hear it. He says the Indians have said it’s final. The HR doesn’t want to help Africans, and it’s been worse since the former HR left. Some employees have been sacked, and some have resigned because no one is there to help them out.
One incident involved an employee resigning because the previous HR prevented one of the Indians named Aminour Islam from harassing and recommending that an employee pay for money that had been defaulted by a client, to be deducted from the pay slip. After the old HR left, Aminour recommended that the employee’s salary be deducted. This employee resigned because the HR that should be guided has sided with Aminour Islam. This lady was hated to an extent that when she requested a transfer somewhere she could work without him, he refused, making it seem like the target was to make her lose the job. Aminour Islam is racist and has had incidents where he preys on female employees for promotions, mostly giving promotions to women who give back sexual favors. He is always covered by fellow bosses, especially the acting CEO Mr. Habib and the assistant in line Das Sankar.
ASA Limited is becoming an issue to employees lately because they don’t want to pay 5-year benefits. They find reasons to remove anyone who has stayed for more than five years so as not to pay gratuity. If your salary is above 30k, you will be terminated so that they can employ someone they can pay 22k, under the guise of saving company money, yet it’s worth billions that are generated. They terminate employees if targets are not achieved, but mostly, it’s because they want to pay employees peanuts while they make money.
More Accusations
I can confirm the ASA LIMITED issue to be true, am a victim, have been an employee of this Bangladesh company for seven years, they terminated me because one of their top most supervisor who was having an affair with the Deputy CEO saw me not fit to work under her, false accusations were made against me, my salary withheld after working for 30days, my terminal dues and gratuity upto now is almost one year six month have not been paid.
The deputy CEO Habid and the the Indians running the company are racists, no salary increments for staff, overpaying some clients to cover for default clients, with against the company policies, gender biased where only 20% of the employees are men, dubious way of acquiring county license for operation especially year 2020 to 2022.
The company is making millions of profit monthly, but the ones who are suffering are the employees at branch level where the can work for more than eight hours. CBK, and microfinance regulatory bodies should visit this company that it’s head office is based at Owashika Road, Lavington Nairobi.
Crisis meeting
It seems like they will have a crisis meeting because the normal day-to-day harassment from the Bangladeshi guys has reduced since you posted.
They have begun sending emails for guys to air grievances through a number.
I guess it’s to make it look like we should channel our complaints through that rather than social media.
Soon, they will reach out to you.
They will even try to bribe you to cool down as it brings a bad image to them and the overseas funders and donors because the guys abroad are the real deal that they fear.
I am very sure the guys that have paper trails will soon leak them to you.
I’ve never seen employees as happy as they were because of that exposé.
The ASA Kenya issue of overworking staff is a norm for Bangladeshi guys.
To Kenyans, job JD says you should work from 8 to 4:30.
But here is a case: guys come to work from 8 in the morning to 9 or 10 at night, in the name of the Bangladesh guys who head regions, insisting you go to clients houses even at night until they pay.
While the said guys are in the houses, they are paid for by our hard-earned efforts.
So Monday to Friday, if you are a lady, you are out in the night till like 9 or 10.
You have kids and a husband waiting, wondering what sort of work this is.
When Saturday arrives, the same guys ask you to come to work again, and it isn’t paid as it is not a working day.
The working hours set are exploitative in a way.
Even women who are pregnant are out at night and the ones that have kids are out of working hours without overtime and risking the lives of staff.
Pregnant women sometimes miscarry because of too much work of walking around.
When you protest, they say you don’t want to work and that you are inciting other staff.
Saturdays are overtime and even in Kenyan laws, they should be paid separately, but they don’t do that.
A lot of families are traumatized, especially husbands who are married to wives who work in ASA.
It’s an issue. Kids don’t even see their mothers at a young age in the name of looking for a client who isn’t even around at times but will pay later.
Last Easter, most of the Bangladeshi bosses are Muslims hence, there was no regard for Christian holidays or worship days.
These guys ordered people to come to work, ignoring the fact that we had booked and made travel arrangements to different destinations for the holidays.
Saturday worshiping is not regarded, especially SDAs.
ASA staff have been exploited enough and they should seek an audience with the owners who are white and donors who fund the company.
They will sort this issue when investors come to visit they don’t even allow them to talk to staff without coaching on who will talk and what should be said and done.
So it’s their narrative peddled around injustices not told.
Owners such as Dirk Brouwer, Karin Kersten, Martijn Bollen should be informed and know they fund a project that is slavery-based to achieve its goals.
None of the Bangladeshi guys should be there, and top management too, especially the HR, who is a zombie in that position.
It’s becoming a joke. They have no avenue to listen to staff.
This is the last resort.
How do you have a company that has a monthly turnover in millions paying staff peanuts in these economic times?
False allegations
Things at ASA LIMITED are now getting out of hand. They have started punishing people whom they suspect are sending you this information. The first message you received has cost another staff member at Kitengela. False allegations were made against him by his immediate supervisors and he was demoted and transferred from Kitengela to Bomet with no notice. The staff member had no option other than to accept the transfer because he’s a family man and bills are piling up daily. The new HR is a man full of ego and has no knowledge of human resources. He is fully controlled by the top management and all his decisions should favor the management. Please, sir, ask the necessary authorities to come to our rescue.
There's no story that cannot be told. We cover the stories that others don't want to be told, we bring you all the news you need. If you have tips, exposes or any story you need to be told bluntly and all queries write to us [email protected] also find us on Telegram
