The British Council on Tuesday confirmed that it was investigating allegations of racism and discrimination against past and current Kenyan staff at the cultural relations organisation.
In a statement to Nation.Africa, a British Council spokesperson said the agency and Kenyan authorities had received an anonymous letter in July 2021 and it responded by initiating an investigation in August 2021.
“The British Council takes all allegations of discrimination, racism, bullying and harassment very seriously. We operate in over 100 countries across the world and our values of equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of everything we do,” the spokesman said.
“On receiving the anonymous letter, we immediately initiated an investigation. This investigation is ongoing, and we are keeping avenues of engagement open with the author of the letter. The author of the letter has not been willing to be interviewed and has not yet provided evidence in support of the allegations.”
The response came a day after the Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom published a story saying that seven Kenyans had written the letter with claims of racism.
The Guardian story said the British Council started investigating claims in the letter that senior white executives had predominantly discriminated against the accusers as they were selected and assessed for redundancy.
“We are unclear who the individual is who sent the anonymous letter – they have not identified themselves. In one instance, an individual who recognised himself in the letter has come forward and informed us that he did not give his consent to be included in the letter,” the British Council spokesperson said.
Dismissed by an employment court
The Council noted that a complaint from the head of communications and digital in the Kenya office, who claimed to have been forced out of their job and replaced by a white person who did not go through a competitive hiring, was dismissed by an employment court. The individual was replaced at the time by a black locally appointed Kenyan.
The British Council says the investigator has outlined the scope of the inquiry to the author of the letter and requested their engagement and availability for interview.
“They have not had any cooperation from the author. The author of the letter has not wanted to engage with us and so far, has not provided evidence to support their allegations. The British Council is still exploring every avenue of communication with them,” the spokesman said.
“We have robust internal mechanisms for addressing concerns and grievances on discrimination, racism, bullying and harassment. We are and have always been proud to be an equal opportunity employer. 98 percent of staff in the Kenya office are locally appointed.”
The Guardian reported that five of the seven accusers claim they were discriminated against during a redundancy process that they say favoured white colleagues. The allegations come amid cuts in central government funding for the British Council and a shortfall of income related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Instrument of soft power
The British Council, known as the UK government’s main instrument of soft power, claims it is still waiting for all of the complainants to come forward with evidence and has queried some of the claims in the initial letter.
One of the complainants who was made redundant said he would not cooperate with the inquiry because it was too narrow in scope to include earlier allegations.
“The British Council says it will only investigate these allegations if we allow them to manage the complaints process and select the cases to be investigated,” the Guardian quotes the person saying.
“But many former and current employees believe that there is a racist culture in the organisation which goes back many years. White people’s opinions are given more weight than black people from Kenya,”
Many of the claims revolve around a recent redundancy programme implemented following a shortfall in income after the government cut the aid budget.
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