By Our Reporters
Mukwano Group, which is one of the leading conglomerates in East Africa, has been hit with sex scandals which recently prompted a young man dating one of its employees to write a confidential mail to the MD urging him to restrain one of his influential managers in the HR department who has made it a habit to contemptuously feast on his girlfriend. Knowledgeable insiders say that on getting the email, the MD shared its contents with some other colleagues in top management and the opinion has since become divided on how to remedially approach the situation. Whereas some few voted for cover up, majority exco members preferred to have the culprits isolated so that they are left to fight on their own without the Group support and protection. This is so because some of these rampaging colleagues, mostly top earning Indian expatiates, had previously been warned to tame their sex libido concerning Ugandan girls working in the company. “They didn’t listen and instead the vice has lived on threatening the Group’s corporate image,” said a disgruntled insider adding in the related meetings, some in the top exco positions were of the view that the implicated colleagues should be identified and asked to leave the Group employment to manifest the Group’s official zero tolerance to sex harassment and sexual syndicates at the work place. “That discussion remains work in progress. A decision is yet to be reached even when it seems popular,” says a knowledgeable insider.
SHOCKING DETAILS;
The aggrieved boyfriend, in his email, makes reference to his girlfriend in the names of Hellen Masesa who works as an HR officer in the Group section responsible for production of Aqua Sipi bottled water which is just one of the many products the Group manufactures. The aggrieved boyfriend names the top earning manager who, without any fear, has been frequenting city hotels to sleep with his girlfriend. The aggrieved boyfriend informs the MD that all his previous efforts to warn the randy expatriate off his girlfriend have gone unheeded because the sexpest considers himself too powerful for the poor Ugandan boyfriend to do anything. He can’t go to court since his is just Boyfriend-Girlfriend relationship without ever solemnizing any marriage as yet. And the Indian has indifferently suggested to him that the one with the highest amount of money will prevail. The powerless boyfriend reports to the MD that he recently caught his girlfriend red handed having sex with the Indian expatriate in Room 8 Chez Johnson Muyenga but the randy Indian didn’t show any remorse.
He just reminded him of his earlier advice to him (boyfriend) to forget about Hellen since he doesn’t have what it takes to match his dimes. The boyfriend, according to close relatives, is on the verge of committing suicide because the frustration arising from the married Indian’s impunity is becoming too much for him to bear. The MD’s inaction has only made life more painful for the young man. The distraught boyfriend says he only discovered recently that his girlfriend has been sleeping with the big man for now four years when she first joined the Group. Without disclosing what he intends to do to assert his conjugal rights, the much tormented boyfriend emphatically informs the MD in the email “I cannot forgive them.” He adds: “I’m going to make them pay for the pain they have caused me. Sometime back I lacked the evidence to make them pay which I now have. On May 08 2018 they were together at about 6pm and I also have pictures of them together. I’m sending you this email because am going to mention that the top manager at your company [who] has used his big position to sleep with my girlfriend who is a junior to them and that he has been giving her favors in the company.I will not forgive them because they have made me look like a fool.” Mukwano Group disgruntled insiders say Hellen isn’t the first nor going to be the last one the influential Group expatriate has taken advantage of using his money and supervisory position.
MUKWANO PROFILE;
Established in 1986 (though it did not start operations until 1989), Mukwago Group is too big an entity that anyone would be surprised to realize that some of the core corporate governance principles, such as not tolerating sex exploitation, are seldom practiced. Broadly speaking, the group is successfully involved in a number of business areas including manufacturing, real estate, bulk storage & shipment, cargo clearing & forwarding, agriculture and financial services. The Mukwano Group easily ranks among the most active investment groups in Uganda. Naturally, they have won several coveted awards including the Annual Presidential Award of Best Exporter of the Year. And in 2010, the Group won international acclaim when its beverages division attained ISO Certification. The subsidiary companies of the Mukwano Group include AK Transporters Uganda Limited, a logistics and transport company with more than 200 heavy transport trailers. Gulf Stream Investments Limited is also theirs and it deals in bulk liquid-storage terminals within the Mombasa port in Kenya. The terminal has capacity to store close to 26,000 metric tons of vegetable oils, oil derivatives and related chemicals in dedicated tanks. Exim Bank (Uganda) is also theirs. It offers retail commercial banking services and it’s jointly owned with Exim Bank (Tanzania). Also to their name is Lira Maize Factory Limited as well as Lira Oil Mill Limited which produces more than 25,000 tons of oil annually from sunflower and cottonseed. Mukwano Agro Project Limited is another Group subsidiary and it cultivates over 17,000 acres in Masindi District where they are renowned for producing maize, soybeans, sunflowerand simsim. This entity supports over 45,000 out-growers who cultivateanother 200,000 acres. There is also Mukwano AK Plastics which manufactures household and industrial plastic products. That is on top of Mukwano Dar es Salaam Factory which (has since 2004) been manufacturing edible oil and soap for the Tanzanian market. Yet that isn’t all. There is also Mukwano Industries Limited which manufactures edible oil, soaps, cleaning products, sanitary products, household and industrial plastic products, bottled water and energy drinks. The Group is also renowned for operating Masindi-based Mukwano Sugar Factory which daily processes 2,500 metric tons of raw sugarcane and 912,000 annually.Riley Packaging Limited, which is the largest producer of packaging materials in East Africa, too belongs to the Mukwano Group. It’s a joint venture between Mukwano Group and Raps Limited, another Ugandan company. Valued at $13m, Riley Packaging Plant is located in Mbalala Mukono on the Kampala-Jinja Highway. The Group also has stake in Royal Palms Housing Estate which is a lakeside gated residential community located in Butabika (9kms outside Kampala CBD). This Estate is home to many of Kampala’s most affluent families. In broad terms, the Mukwano Group owns Nationwide Properties Limited, a real-estate development company that specializes in building commercial and residential properties. It’s a joint venture between the Mukwano Group and Property Services Limited, a real estate management firm in Uganda.The Group products include Aqua Sipibottled water, Kyekyo energy drinks, Mukwano edible cooking oil, Roki fortified edible cooking oil, 3Star fortified edible cooking oil, Marinamargarine, Tamu baking fat, Sunseed edible sunflower oil, Nice Fryedible cooking fat and Nice Fry vegetable frying fat. For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755.
