Why decision barring Chebochok from holding public office is a game changer in GBV war
John Chebochok was featured in a 2023 BBC documentary titled 'Sex for Work: The True Taste of Our Tea'. Justice Joseph Sergon ruled he did not meet constitutional standards for leadership.
What you need to know:
- A landmark court decision exposes systemic sexual exploitation on Kenya’s tea estates and challenges entrenched impunity in agricultural leadership.
- Survivor testimonies reveal coercion, unsafe working conditions and widespread gender-based violence across Kenya’s agricultural value chains.
For decades, Kenya's tea has been sold to the world as a symbol of pride and prosperity. Behind the lush green plantations lies a far darker reality, shaped by sexual exploitation, silence, and impunity.
A new report by Oxfam and Wangu Kanja Foundation, titled Tea Leaves a Mark: the Voice of Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence on Kenya's Tea Estates, is forcing the industry to confront how women workers are treated on the estates that sustain one of the country's most important exports.
Jackie's story
Jackie is the youngest of three siblings in a struggling family. When her parents could no longer afford her school fees, she dropped out of secondary school and went looking for work on the tea farms.
At the estate offices, she met the supervisor responsible for hiring. She believed her willingness to work would be enough. It was not.
"I had my identity card. I left home and went to the office. When I got there, I met a man who was registering people. He told me to come on a certain day. I went back on that day and he told me that if I couldn't agree [to have sex] with him, he wouldn't register me," she recalled.
Desperate, she agreed, meeting him in his office in the evenings. She soon discovered she was pregnant.
"I was scared when the clinic confirmed my pregnancy. I knew the estate didn't allow pregnant casual workers, but I had no idea what to do. I was handed a letter confirming my pregnancy and instructed to present it to the assistant manager, who worked in the same office as the supervisor. My pleas fell on deaf ears, and the supervisor was instructed to terminate my employment," she said.
Within days, safety officers arrived at her door. "They came to my house and told me I had to leave immediately. I had no chance to pack my things. I was three months pregnant and had nowhere to go. My relationship with the supervisor deteriorated rapidly afterwards," she added.
Jackie's story mirrors that of many women on Kenya's tea estates, who endure sexual coercion and harassment as they struggle to provide for their families.
From documentary to court
The issue came into sharp national focus in 2023, when a BBC documentary titled Sex for Work: The True Taste of Our Tea exposed supervisors allegedly exploiting female jobseekers in exchange for employment.
One of those featured was John Chebochok. In 2024, he stood for election as director at Toror Tea Factory under the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA). Civil society organisations appealed to the Tea Board of Kenya, KTDA, and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to block his candidacy. Despite the uproar, he was cleared to contest and won with 396 votes.
A petition was filed at the High Court in Kericho seeking to have him declared unfit for public office. Last week, Justice Joseph Sergon ruled that Chebochok did not meet the constitutional standards required for leadership, finding he had violated provisions on national values and governance, equality and non-discrimination, human dignity, and leadership and integrity. The court also held that KTDA Holdings, the Tea Board of Kenya, and the IEBC had failed in their duty by clearing him to run. The petition was brought by the Wangu Kanja Foundation and Oxfam, with support from Kenya Legal & Ethical Issues Network on HIV and Aids (Kelin).
Rights groups welcomed the ruling. The Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (Fida-Kenya) called it a significant victory for survivors of sexual violence. Amnesty International said sexual exploitation and abuse of power have no place in leadership. The Kenya Women Parliamentary Association and Katiba Institute said the ruling reaffirmed constitutional principles on integrity and equality.
A wider crisis
The problem extends well beyond tea. A November 2025 report by IDH and UN Global Compact Network Kenya, titled From Risk to Resilience: Building Safe, Inclusive and Climate-Resilient Value Chains, found gender-based violence widespread across Kenya's agricultural sector, affecting women in horticulture, shrimp farming, banana exports, and cut-flower production. In many cases, job security is tied to compliance with male supervisors' sexual demands.
Tea estates recorded some of the highest prevalence, with two out of three women reporting sexual or domestic violence. Nationally, gender-based violence was estimated to cost up to two per cent of Kenya's GDP.
Women remain concentrated in insecure, low-wage, and informal roles, conditions that heighten vulnerability. Climate stressors such as droughts and floods compound the risk further. For many, violence follows them home, with domestic abuse on family-run farms reducing productivity and income. At the distribution stage, truck drivers are frequently implicated in the sexual exploitation of women and girls.
"These pervasive issues illustrate the deep-rooted nature of GBV at every stage of the agricultural value chain," the report warns, adding that such violence undermines rural development, nutrition, and food security.
The ruling in Kericho is a step forward. But for women like Jackie, justice remains fragile, dependent on sustained scrutiny and structural reform within Kenya's powerful agricultural sector.
