Retail chain Chandarana Supermarkets faces a boycott from, among other Kenyans, ex-Kiambu Governor William Kabogo following the emergence of emails sent to marketing managers that revealed shocking racist messaging.
In the emails sent by one Rima Patel who signed off as a marketing specialist, the supermarket seemingly implied a renewed focus on targeting white customers.
"We are delighted to inform you that our supermarkets chain, would like give (sic) you free gift vouchers to winner/raffles/best performer/runners up candidates in your upcoming events.
"As we are now focusing on white people to attract our (sic) supermarkets. We have already 13 branches in Nairobi," the email read in part.
Following a public outcry after the emails surfaced, Chandarana issued a statement blaming Patel's lack of proficiency in English for what they consider a misconstrued message.
[caption caption="A Chandarana supermarket in Nairobi"]
[/caption]
"Her lack of proficiency in the English language is an easy way to justify this horrendous error!
"While this is actually the case, it really does not make it excusable in any way," the statement read in part.
The response only served to spark more outrage as a section of Kenyans felt it was half-hearted and lacking in concrete actions to correct the situation.
While some called for the company to outline steps they would take to ensure such an incident did not recur, others called for a total boycott of the stores.
"All native Africans should resist chandarana. We should not buy from them. The whites will," declared former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo.
"@ChandaranaSuper this is very unfortunate. There’s no justification for this whatsoever and if you don’t publicly apologise to the people of this country, I’ll personally print out copies of this email and mobilise people to distribute it to your customers at all your stores," tweeted one Yussuf Adan.
"The fact that your so called new hire cannot communicate in English is a problem in itself. You could not employ a competent Kenyan marketing professional with good communication skills? We have got plenty of those," a user known as Wambui Munene wrote.
[caption caption="The email that surfaced"]
[/caption]
[caption caption="Chandarana's response"]
[/caption]
