Surprise! You Hired A Thief. Pan African Life Employees Charged With Theft

By Jane Okoth

No employer would ever want to believe that the person they hired and also trusted would even consider stealing from them.

The sad reality is some of the most likable and trustworthy people you meet may have few morals and little or no integrity.

It so happens in the case of Pan African Life Assurance Company whose employees were charged with stealing over sh 10 million through false pretence.

According to an article on Standard Digital , the three, senior manager Lamech Otieno and insurance agents Ibrahim Ololo and Leah Chiko were accused of pretending that Consolidated Movers Insurance Brokers Ltd had reported a death claim of Sh5,262,540 in respect to a Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) official identified as Joseph Chisaka.

Appearing before Nairobi Senior Principal Magistrate Ellena Nderitu, they were also accused of stealing property worth Sh5,262,540 from the insurance company on August 6.

On another incident of forgery, the 3 also pretended that Liason Insurance Brokers Ltd had reported a death claim worth Sh4,681,560 in respect of Sammy Njema of Egerton University.

The paper also reported that the suspects had been re-arrested after they had pleaded to other related charges in which they were accused of stealing Sh4 million from the company.

This clearly demonstrates how far dishonest employees are willing to go.

“This is total lack of morals. And to think that they had managerial positions and still be capable of doing that!”exclaims Cyrus Kirimi, a sales agent at an advertising company in the CBD.

“I guess you never know who you are hiring nowadays because these were just selfish and greedy employees,” he adds.

“Employers need to be more wary of the people they hire nowadays. One might be tempted to think that they were not paid enough or not treated well by their employers, but surely that is no excuse for stealing, points Abel Ndungu’ a public relations officer at a medium company.

“This is the trend nowadays. People steal from their employers all the time. I have seen cashiers pocketing money that has not been receipted and store keepers making way with merchandise without the employer’s consent. This habit needs to be put to an end. I hope they learn their lesson while in prison.” He says.

“Pay employees more and maybe they will stop stealing from you. City hall is also planning to increase allowances for city askaris so they can curb bribing and corruption. The same should have been done to the employees and they would not steal,” notes Steven Omondi, an entrepreneur in Nairobi.

But Gerald Cheruiyot, a Graduate trainee at a leading bank in the country seems to differ.

“You cannot instill morals in a person if he doesn’t have any. Paying them a lot won’t help either because they will still steal from you anyway,” he says.

“Many disgruntled employees are using that as a scapegoat; if a company underpays you, there are sure other professional and ethical ways of dealing with it other than stealing,” he concludes.

What is your take on the issue?

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