Standard Group Must Now Stop Staff Injustice – Editor’s Note.

By The Editor

What started as simple salary delays at the Standard Group is now turning into modern day slavery where staff continuously work without knowing whether or when they will be paid their salary. Cases of statutory deductions such as NSSF, NHIF and PAYE not being remitted have been reported in the past while those staff who signed up for saving schemes under Sacco seem to have lost their hard-earned cash after their deductions got swallowed into some bottomless pit instead of being remitted to their Sacco accounts.
Retrenchments and declarations of redundancies at the Standard Group have been conducted in the most inhumane manner! Terminating staff who are sick – some with terminal illnesses and refusing to pay them salary arrears and terminal dues with full knowledge of how important those monies are to their survival. We know of such sick former staff who are still pleading for their salary arrears and final dues more than 20 months down the line. Yet it is just normal operations at the Standard Group as the company continues with heavy capital investments and hiring more staff. For them, it is clearly business as usual, but should that be the case?

President Ruto’s tweet
It is a matter well known way up to the highest office in Kenya as evidenced by President William Ruto’s recent tweet aimed at Gideon Moi whom the President said he owns the Standard Group. In that tweet the President flatly told Gideon Moi and the Standard Group to end slavery at their offices by paying staff before purporting to fight for any freedom.
Whereas this came as the president complained about what he considered as a sustained unfair coverage from Standard Group, which he is convinced was targeted at discrediting him, it was still a good thing for hundreds of staff who are pleading for their salary arrears to know that even their President knows about their plight. But is tweeting all the President can do on this matter? Isn’t there anything else he can do to end these injustices?

For many years, we have seen journalists highlight all manner of injustices and pursue them to their logical conclusion. The injustice at the Standard is not a light issue. As the President put it, this is slavery. It is also criminal under the Employment Act – yet we haven’t heard anything from the Office of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) for all this time. Just what exactly is going on here?
To answer these questions and many more, KOLLEA HUB is launching sustained detailed coverage, analysis, opinions, and commentaries on this matter dubbed STANDARD GROUP MUST STOP STAFF INJUSTICE starting Monday July 6, 2026. A time has come when journalism must save journalists! Stay tuned as we shine the spotlight on the Standard Group.

Kizito Namulanda