Following an email by one of its employees that went viral, Chandarana Foodplus Supermarket has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons.The email sent by Mrs Rima Patel, who the retailer said is a recent hire in its marketing department, asked managers to target white shoppers with gift vouchers.
“We are delighted to inform you that our supermarket chain would like to give you free vouchers to winner/raffles/best performer/runners up candidate in upcoming events. As we are now focusing on white people to attract our supermarkets,” part of the email read.
Mr Hanif Rajan, the director of operations at Chandarana, Foodplus on Monday told the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, which is looking into the case, that Rima Patel went missing after the email she wrote caused an uproar. A press statement by the supermarket read:
This morning the Chandarana Foodplus management appeared before the National Cohesion and Integration Commissions (NCIC) legal and investigations team in relation to the email by one of our staff members that was deemed to be discriminatory. The management team, led by Director of Operations Hanif Rajan, had a consultative and fact-finding engagement with the commission, where three managers were interviewed by the commission officials. In view of this, the management is fully committed to cooperate with the NCIC to bring the matter to a conclusion. The author of the email, Mrs. Rima Patel, did not honor the summons but management has provided investigators with information to have her appear before it. Chandarana Food plus has been known for decades to serve every segment and demographic of the Kenyan society with exceptional product offerings, fair pricing and outstanding personal service
The director of operations added that Mrs. Rima, the marketing executive was an Indian national working on a three-month work permit which was to expire on August 6, 2018.
NCIC will investigate the case further as it hunts for Ms Patel, according to NCIC head of complaints and legal affairs Kyalo Mwengi.