The saga surrounding reports that Olive Restaurant, Nairobi, threw a breastfeeding woman out of their premises has taken a new twist after the hotel’s management released CCTV footage of the incident.
Speaking to the press earlier today, the restaurant's management denied any wrongdoing and accused the woman, identified as Betty Kim, of peddling lies.
The managers refuted claims that Betty was thrown out, explaining that she was served by a waiter, ate, nursed the baby, paid the bill and left.
They added that the footage supported their view.
“About 25 minutes after being served and beginning eating, she begins suckling her baby. About 5 minutes into the activity, a waiter gestures to her where they engage for about 30 seconds after which there is a moment of eminent laughter and a long smile from her then she proceeds with her meal and does not leave the hotel as alleged,” read a statement from the hotel in part.
In the video seen by SDE, a waitress is seen approaching a breastfeeding woman sitting alone at a table, eating. The waitress engages her in conversation and the woman immediately stops breastfeeding. Is she Betty? What did the waitress tell her?
Olive Restaurant had come under heavy criticism and scrutiny after Betty claimed that she was allegedly ordered by waiters to complete the breastfeeding in a washroom.
The backlash on social media saw the manager of the popular Accra Road restaurant, Moses Wambua, issue an apology insisting that the hotel did not discriminate women and only learnt of the allegations on social media.
"We don't care about women covering up while breastfeeding or not. They can even change their babies in the boss' office…
"We are very sorry if indeed this incident happened as we did not know until we learned about it on social media,” said Wambua
Wambua reiterated that they were investigating the matter to establish the truth behind the claims and urged the victim to come forward and lodge the complaint.
"Since no one has officially complained of harassment by our staff up to this moment, we cannot be sure as to whether it actually occurred,” added Wambua.
Women had taken to the streets last week, protesting the alleged mistreatment of the mother while accusing Olive restaurant of infringing on the rights of children.
“It is shameful that some individuals or restaurants support such blatant violation of a child's right to feed,” said one of the protesters to the Standard.
