By Our Reporter,
Entebbe International Airport’s ground handling firm Menzies Group administration is under intense pressure arising out of a litany of sex harassment cases and accusations by a section of current and retrenched female and male staff therein against some top company administrators.
Insiders have reliably informed this website trustednewsug that the pressure gained intensity when the aviation
Company’s main administration in UK dispatched a team of investigators to probe the Entebbe based ground managers on grave allegations of exploitation and sexually harassing its female staff, following their failure to address them, despite the employee’s consistent complaints.
As a result of that, two of the accused top bosses; Sadam Thembo Kato a senior Human Resource Officer and Peter Ochieng the Handling Manager have been suspended from work until further notice.
The dual’s suspension has been confirmed by the management in an internal memo issued to all the staff, dated Monday 11 march 2024, which this website has seen. The same communication was ever since pinned up on the company’s notice board for sight of all the staff.
“Management has been made aware of some recent anonymous communications regarding numerous allegations and would like to assure you that we take these allegations and their impact on our people and the overall business very seriously” the memo reads in part.
According to the management, investigations have since then been launched into the staff accusations against its tail wagging suspended managers, calling upon all the affected staff to present forward their evidence, pinning them over their treachery.
It has come to the knowledge of this website trustednewsug from the highly placed sources in Menzies Group Company which was formally called ENHAS, that grave cases of such sex harassment have quite long been reported by the cannibalized female staff to the same management to salvage the situation but in vain.
To make matters worse, the victims whose names are withheld for purposes of protection pin the
Human Resource Manager (HR) Joseph Abila for turning into a frustrater of their time long sought justice as he deliberately chose to sweep their painful complaints under the carpet that have time and again been filed with his HR office.
On learning according to insiders that the victims had made extra efforts of unmasking them including filing complaints with the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union and reporting the same to the media through Uganda Journalists Association (UJA) following its reluctance to reign in, the management was swift to act by declaring suspension of its errant top workers as a mitigation to the already developed pressure.
Girl’s Ordeal in Relation to Sex Harassment.
In the recordings obtained by trustednewsug.com, some of the female staff are heard pinning one of the suspended top manager Peter Ochieng for being responsible for dropping her dear job at Menzies for when she denied having sex with him to have her contract renewed.
Another one is heard accusing Ochieng of declining renewal of her job contract for questioning as to why Ochieng had granted his relatives permanent employment status at the expanse of the meritorious old staff.
Another one accuses the Entebbe International Airport ground handling company suspended ground handling manager of pestering her with hanging out for sex whenever she would attend his office for official matters. She accuses him of sleeping with some of her workmate.
Menzies (Entebbe Handling Services-ENHAS) adversely affected staff emphasized that the nature of the said sex was not consensual.
“If a woman is forced to have sex or requested to have sex with her superiors in exchange for
Permanent employment status or other perks related to her employment, that isn’t consensual. If her employment is terminated due to retaliation by the abuser that too is sexual “noted staff.
They called upon all responsible stakeholders including, Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, Menzies Aviation Upper Management and Airline officials to ensure that a fair investigation into this matter is carried out without instilling fear into the abused.
When contacted to respond about the matter, the company’s HR Abila however, said there is none of their staff that was suspended in relation to the matter.
One of the suspended managers Peter Ochieng, dismissed as false the staff accusations against him when he was also contacted to provide clarification about the same.
