Court strikes petition against Del monte over killings, abuses

The High Court has struck out a petition filed against the US multinational food giant Delmonte over accusations of killings and assault at its vast pineapple plantation.

High Court Judge Lady Justice Florence Muchemi while striking out the petition held that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear and determine the matter.

Muchemi further dismissed an application seeking to amend the petition ruling that the application lacks merit.

“This court declared itself that it lacks jurisdiction to hear and determine the petition,” ruled the court.

“Being a public interest matter as it sounded to the court after perusal of documents , I hereby order each party to meet its own costs.”

The ruling follows applications filed seeking to have the petition dismissed on grounds that it was incompetent and that the court lacked jurisdiction.

They argued that the petition did not meet the threshold of a constitutional petition.

Additionally, an application filed by the petitioners, dated December 3, 2023, sought to amend the petition.

A rights group and community activists filed the lawsuit against US multinational food giant Del Monte over accusations of killings and assaults at its vast pineapple plantation near Nairobi.

The case, lodged at the High of Court Kenya, was also on behalf of people who say they had been attacked by Del Monte security guards, and relatives of alleged victims.

The company, which employs 6,000 people in Kenya faced accusations of abuse and violence.

According to the petitioners, Del Monte has been locked in a land ownership row with the local community, which claims the company’s land as its ancestral home.

It said locals had been long been crossing the 10,000-acre (4,000-hectare) plantation “leading to conflicts with the security personnel deployed by Del Monte, who assault, beat, torture, maim, rape and/or kill the trespassers.

“Multiple killings have occurred at Del Monte’s pineapple farm in Kenya, where security guards allegedly murdered trespassers and showed general violence against locals,” it added.

Alleged thieves have been beaten to death by the guards, drowned in dams or dumped in the nearby river, it charged.