Unilever Tea Kenya has illegal immigrants working at the organization, an insider source has told Kahawa Tungu.
According to a source who sought anonymity, there are at least seven immigrants of Indian descent working ordinary jobs that Kenyans can take up any day.
The seven are reportedly working as Green Leaf verification clerks while others are assigned field assistant jobs.
Some of these immigrants, Kahawa Tungu has learnt are old and frail, with some being as old as 65 years of age.
One of the illegal immigrant has been identified as Jaspal Marwah who lies about his occupation. Mr Marwa, according to the insider, has an expired passport and no valid work permit.
When asked what position he holds at the company that has been in Kenya since 1924, he says that he is a consultant. He is apparently based at the Chagaik Tea Factory but is now in hiding.
Immigration officers are said to have come looking for the immigrants on July 6. The lot was arrested, arraigned in court but were released under unclear circumstances.
Marwa is staying away from preying eyes of the public and has since been keeping a low profile while hiding out at the company’s guest houses.
The other illegal immigrant has been identified as David and is based at Cheymen Tea Estate.
Their boss has only been identified as Zukh.
This comes at a time when Interior Security Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i has vowed to crackdown on illegal immigrants working in the country without work permits.
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On July 3 the CS revealed that 31 fake work permits were nabbed and three brokers masquerading as work permit issuance officials arrested in the ongoing work permit verification exercise.
According to Matiang’i, the exercise, which begun May 22 will end July 22 and after that, the government will embark on an operation to fish out illegal foreign workers and immigrants in the country.
“We shall not allow work permits for people who want to work in fields which Kenyans can… We will only allow those with expertise which is rare in Kenya,” said Matiang’i.
Unilever Tea workers now want Matiang’i to crack the whip on these foreigners who cheated the legal system and are still in the country.
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