British Council Concludes Probe into Claims of Racism Against Kenyan Employees

The British Council has concluded an investigation into allegations of racism and discrimination against Kenyan employees at the organization's Nairobi office.

In a statement, the British Council said the probe found no evidence of racial discrimination, bullying, or harassment as complaints raised against staff members could not be substantiated.

The council further stated that it identified opportunities for improvement of its operations in Kenya in the course of the investigative process.

“These improvements include: the process for handling complaints, the management of staff performance and the management of redundancy processes. We will continue to learn lessons through open and honest appraisal and following this investigative process, we will look to strengthen our processes and training,” reads the statement.

It adds: “The British Council is proud to be an equal opportunities employer and draws its employees, including senior management, from within its country of operation. All the employees in our Kenya operation, with the exception of one individual, are Kenyan nationals, including five out of six members of the leadership team.”

The council initiated an investigation into the allegations in August 2021 after receiving a letter from an anonymous author.

The letter alleged that senior white executives discriminated against the accusers, predominantly as they were selected and assessed for redundancy.

“The cases underline a repeated practice by white members of staff to constantly assign Kenyans as underperformers, inadequate, unskilled, unprofessional, and suspects as the organization abuses its procedures and systems to validate its discriminative practice,” part of the letter read.

The complainants further alleged that attempts to air their grievances to the organization’s human resource department were also ignored, forcing some of them to either resign or drop the complaints altogether.  

The British Council was founded in 1934 and specializes in international cultural and educational opportunities.