What are night clubs in Nakuru doing to protect their staff from sexual harassment?
Some of the bottle girls working at Space Next Door night club in Nakuru city.
Over the weekend, Mtaa Wangu ran a story on how waitresses and bottle girls are being sexually assaulted by female patrons in night clubs across Nakuru city.
They main issue that came out was that most of the waitresses do not know how to address this issue.
Nelson Matata, the manager of Space Next door says cases of harassment used to be rampant but have reduced significantly.
“I think it has reached to the point where revellers understand that being a waiter is a job just like any other.”
Matata confidently notes that he cannot sit back as a manager and watch an employee get harassed by a customer.
“In the event any of the employees under me are harassed and they report to me, I would confront the client and tell them they are making my employee uncomfortable. If the matter escalates, we would now involve the police and take legal action against them,” he says firmly.
He continues to say that every time he has warned the clients of the legal repercussions that their harassment has, they often apologize and act accordingly.
Outside Culture Mambo night club in Nakuru city centre.
On the other side of town, we got to speak to the manager of Culture Mambo, Henry Akhonya who also confirms that such cases arise but not as often.
“We hold the safety and well-being of our employees in very high regard and as a manager, it is my responsibility to make sure that the people who work under me have a conducive working environment,” he said.
Henry adds that in the event a sexual harassment case is reported to him, he would assess the matter and see how best to address it.
“For most of my waitresses, they usually take a strong stance towards the customers and tell them off. In addition to this, they at times change tables with their male colleagues and move to serve in other areas of the club.”
Henry concurs with Nelson, saying that in his experience he has not had a very compelling case that was brought to his attention warranting serious action.
He says, “Many of the cases usually occur once customers have had one to many drinks and therefore when dealing with a drunkard, we try and control the situation with the help of the security personnel in the club.”