By Hassan Wekesa - Editor
Kenya, 16 November 2025 - The Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU-Kenya) has written to the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration, Kipchumba Murkomen, calling for the immediate expulsion of a Chinese national caught on camera brutally assaulting a Kenyan employee at a factory in Eldoret.
COTU(K) Secretary-General Francis Atwoli, termed the incident a "gross violation" of workers' rights and insisted that it the worrying pattern of abuses which Kenyans endure in the hands of foreign investors, must come to an end.
The outrage stems from a harrowing viral video that has ignited fury across social media platforms.
The footage captures alleged Chinese manager at TCM Mabati Factory, attempting to kick a Kenyan worker, who cowers in evident distress.
The clip, which went viral on Saturday prompted widespread condemnation from netizens, who urged that more such videos should be posted to expose rogue employers.
It exposes exploitative labour practices in Kenya's manufacturing sector.
" As COTU(K) we are appalled by this incident, which is a gross violation of the rights and dignity of the affected and, as the voice and defender of Kenyan workers, we will not stand by and watch the dignity of Kenyan workers violated by some rogue Chinese employers operating within our borders," Atwoli wrote in the letter, obtained by Dawan Africa.
He lambasted the assault as not merely an isolated outrage, but part of a "prevalent" pattern of mistreatment, urging Murkomen's ministry to act decisively or risk betraying the trust of the nation's labour force.
Atwoli highlighted a parallel scandal from just last week, where COTU had already petitioned for the ousting of another Chinese investor at an Export Processing Zone (EPZ).
That individual is alleged of forcing Kenyan garment workers to sing Chinese songs before, during, and after shifts.
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When questioned, COTU said the suspect hurled verbal abuse at the General Secretary of the Tailors and Textile Workers Union.
Atwoli has implored CS Murkomen to join forces with CS Alfred Mutua of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection to ramp up inspections, compliance checks, and enforcement in foreign-run enterprises.
“COTU(K) therefore demands the immediate deportation of the Chinese national captured on video assaulting a Kenyan worker at TCM Mabati Factory,” Atwoli’s letter states.
The COTU(K) boss has maintained that anything less would be a betrayal of the trust Kenyan workers have placed in the Interior ministry and the government at large.
This latest furore unfolds against a backdrop of simmering tensions over foreign labour dynamics and disrespect by foreigners.
Recently, a Dutch national harassed a police officer in Diani, with calls of his deportation over his unfitness on Kenyan soil. Edwin Ter Horst was arraigned in Kwale, but the latest from court corridors reveal that he was deemed unfit to stand trial, according to a medical report.
Horst in a viral video, was seen spitting on a police officer.
