Del Monte suffers as 16 arrested for pineapple theft in last 25 days
Pineapple farm owned by Del Monte Kenya Ltd.
The Murang'a County Security Committee has in the past 25 days arrested 16 black market kingpins buying stolen pineapples from the American-owned Del Monte and recovered contraband worth Sh2 million.
This was announced on Saturday 27 July by Ithanga Kakuzi sub-county police boss Mr Thomas Mong'are after he led a sting operation that nabbed the 16th suspect at Thika town's main stage.
The police raid, according to Mr Mong'are, was carried out under the action plan dubbed 'operation Linda mananasi', which is part of a bilateral agreement between Nairobi and Washington agreed upon during President William Ruto's recent state visit to America.
Del Monte began operations in Kenya in 1965 after buying a local company, Kenya Canners, which had been in business since 1948 and currently operates on more than 25,000 acres of land.
Mr Mong'are said: "Today's arrest of this notorious wholesale buyer of stolen pineapples in Thika town is a clear testimony that this menace, which is costing Del Monte an annual loss of about Sh80 million to Sh100 million, will soon be defeated."
He said security agents were more involved in the raids to cut off the gangs that steal the produce from the black market.
"We have estimated that there are about 10 gangs with a membership of about 4,000 youths from Murang'a, Kiambu, Embu and Machakos counties. We are now looking at cutting off these gangs' access to the black market," he said.
Mr Mong'are said, "Wholesale buyers spend an average of Sh270,000 per day buying the stolen pineapples, thus supporting the gangs who escape with more than 5,000 pieces of pedigree pineapples after fighting with Del Monte guards."
He said that concentrating on arresting market players would ensure that the gangs had no market and therefore no reason to steal.
"If we kill the black market, the gangs will only be able to steal for their own consumption. The markets are mostly in major towns in the Central, Eastern and Nairobi regions," he said.
During the last Madaraka Day celebrations, Murang'a County Commissioner Joshua Nkanatha declared crop theft in the county to be banditry and promised to deploy the appropriate force to tackle the menace.
"We are dealing with a highly volatile issue where organised gangs armed with crude weapons are raiding the Del Monte plantation and preparing for war. The result is loss of life and property, which in a broader sense undermines national economic gains and also tarnishes our relations with development partners," he said.
Del Monte has at times threatened to cease operations unless the government helps it deal with the gang threat.
The company has suffered huge losses both locally and internationally as a result of the gangs' activities.
In the compound crisis, Del Monte's security guards have been persistently accused of using brute force in their attempts to protect the produce, with dead human bodies emerging from the area's dams, rivers and bushes, and survivors flooding the media with tales of escaping death only to carry away serious injuries inflicted by clubs and patrol dogs.
The deadly clash has drawn the ire of local and international human rights organisations, with Del Monte facing lawsuits and trade sanctions from major market players.
Last year, UK supermarket giant Tesco said it had stopped buying Del Monte products, citing systemic human rights abuses.
The conflict has recently strained bilateral relations between Washington and Nairobi, with the then US ambassador to Kenya, Kyle McCarter, convening a public stakeholders' meeting in 2020 that brought together Del Monte, political actors and the company's neighbours.
In the petition dated December 30, 2023, ref: HCCHRPET/E002/2023, the petitioners want Del Monte to be compelled by the security apparatus of the Republic of Kenya to submit to the combined dictates of 20 key principles of human and environmental rights.
The petitioners - supported by the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC) and the Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ) - are the African Centre for Corrective and Preventive Action (ACCPA) and 11 Del Monte neighbours, two of whom are women.
The respondents in the petition are listed as Del Monte, Fresh Monte Produce and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Some of the violations cited include the unleashing of dogs, horses and heavily armed guards on neighbours and the forcible occupation of indigenous people's ancestral lands.
In an attempt to make peace with the anti-human rights sentiments, on 5 Mar 2024 Del Monte entered into a pact with the security company G4S to professionalise its dealings with the gang members.
Del Monte had previously fired its 250 in-house security guards and hired those from G4S, issuing a statement saying that "this collaboration is in response to the recommendations of a recent Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA), which endorsed the outsourcing of security personnel as part of best practice".
But on March 7, 2024, the new G4S guards were given a rude welcome by the pineapple gangs after they were attacked and thousands of pineapples forcibly harvested, a trend that has now prompted the government to send in armed officers to step up the fight against the theft.
Del Monte Kenya’s Acting Deputy Managing Director Mr Wayne Cook on Saturday thanked the government saying "We remain committed to partnering to address the effects of the coordinated criminal operations targeting our fields and stealing large volumes of pineapples".
