Woman Ordered To Delete Tweet Exposing Kenyan Family Forcing Househelp To Sit On Floor
She also attached two photos showing the domestic worker, dressed in what appears to be a work uniform, sitting forlornly on the floor, with her hands crossed.
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A woman going by the X (formerly Twitter) username, Kunta Kitten, revealed on Thursday, September 21 that she was forced to delete a post exposing a Kenyan family forcing their househelp to sit on a floor at a Nairobi restaurant.
The incident has since sparked outrage across the platform, with many Kenyans On X (KOX) condemning the popular Zen Garden restaurant in Spring Valley for allowing such mistreatment to occur within its premises.
Kunta in the deleted post had claimed that while having lunch at the restaurant, she noticed that a woman, who she revealed was a housegirl, was forced to sit on the floor as her well-to-do employers enjoyed lunch from the comfort of their allocated tables.
She also attached two photos showing the domestic worker, dressed in what appears to be a work uniform, sitting forlornly on the floor, with her hands crossed.
Screenshot of a deleted tweet exposing a Kenyan family forcing a househelp to sit on the floor while her employers enjoy lunch at a popular Nairobi restaurant. /KUNTA KITTEN.X
An obviously displeased Kunta invoked a quote by Malcolm S. Forbes, stating, "You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him."
"We had lunch at Zen Garden, Nairobi, and we spotted this family that had their maid sit on the floor while they dined! In this day and age!" she exclaimed.
Kunta subsequently followed up the ordeal with posts like "can you even afford a maid?" "who do you think you are? can you even afford a maid?" "our maid lives a better life than you", hinting that the family might have taken offence to her circulating the photos on X.
Speaking to Viral Tea, Kunta confirmed that she was forced by the family to delete the post amidst alleged harassment on her part.
A screenshot of her post was however picked up by a fellow user, Jelani MK, who criticised Zen Garden for allowing its staff to serve the family as the worker was seated on the floor.
"Zen Garden, shame on you for serving this family as they made their worker sit on the floor! The fact that you let this go on in your establishment is shameful and disgusting. You’re enabling the mistreatment of domestic workers. Shame on you.
"The original post was deleted because the patron was harassed into deleting it," she wrote, leading a wave of subsequent condemnations against the establishment.
Zen Garden was yet to issue a response to the incident by the time of publishing, which raised concerns about the treatment of domestic workers and the responsibility of catering businesses to ensure fair and respectful treatment for all patrons.
Many domestic workers hired locally or abroad, most of whom are women, complain about poor working conditions, long working hours, lack of access to social security, poor pay, sexual harassment, and poor occupational, safety and health conditions.
Domestic Workers' Rights
In Kenya, workers’ rights are governed by the Constitution, the Employment Act, the Labour Relations Act, the Regulation of Wages (General)(Amendment) Order Act, and the Regulation of Wages (Agricultural Industry) (Amendment) Order Act.
A househelp at work while her employer reads a newspaper. /JUPITER IMAGES
According to the Constitution, an employee is entitled to fair remuneration, reasonable working conditions and to form, join or participate in the activities and programs of a trade union.
An employer is required to provide healthcare coverage, reasonable housing (or a reasonable allowance for the same) and water for a domestic worker.
Domestic workers are also entitled to one day of rest every week, a paid annual leave of 21 days, sick leave of not less than seven days on full pay, another seven days on half pay and maternity leave of three months with benefits.
