A giant supermarket has suspended one of its managers at the Buruburu Branch following an alleged mistreatment incident reported by a customer.
The suspension comes after Kenyans online started calling for a boycott of the supermarket chain after a video of customers narrating an alleged assault surfaced. The backlash gained momentum, with many demanding accountability and respect from the retail giant.
The pressure follows a video that made rounds on social media, where two customers narrated how a manager at a Buruburu branch of the supermarket abused them over a milk purchase.
In the video, the customers narrated that while at the milk deposit section, they didn't find any teller and then decided to deposit milk for themselves. After depositing the milk, they went ahead to pay and were issued a receipt.
Moments after they left the supermarket, they were quickly summoned back and questioned as to why they had deposited the milk themselves. The standoff quickly escalated into chaos and drama after the receipt was quickly grabbed by the manager and torn, and the two customers were accused of stealing 57 litres of milk.
That is when they were grabbed, taken to the storage unit, and beaten for allegedly depositing 57 litres of milk in a 2-litre bottle.
''We were very confused. The manager took us to the control unit and started beating both my brother and me. When I questioned why he was beating us, he refused to respond," one of the customers explained.
The incident escalated into a police case, where the customers were taken to Buruburu Police Station but were not apprehended, as their father was already at the station reporting the incident.
Since then, it has been alleged that the manager has previously made arrests of customers and charged them with crimes.
In an official statement, the retail chain condemned the incident and revealed that they had suspended the manager while investigations continued.
''As soon as we became aware of the situation, we took immediate action by placing the staff involved on suspension. We have personally reached out to the affected customer to offer our heartfelt apologies, reassurance, and support,'' the statement read in part.
