I just received the following letter, which based on content and detailed information appears to be genuine . . . I presume if any of the factual statements are incorrect Pfizer will post a comments to this post:
Dear Dr Rost
Pfizer employees of African origin in the Nigeria East Africa Region have watched the changes currently taking place in the regional business model and are aggrieved by the racial based decisions being implemented. The company is realigning its business model in the mentioned region and the realignment touches on personnel and distributors in the East Africa (regional offices in Kenya), Ghana markets and Nigeria is likely to follow.
Prior to the actual realignment being undertaken, a Regional Director of African decent (Ms Ngozi Edozien) was replaced by Enrico Liggeri a Manager of Italian origin who was in New York before his posting. Senior managers in the region were not considered at all for the position. Pfizer employees in the region are worried with this racial move. In the process two senior "African" managers (Mahmoud Mohamed a Kenyan in charge of East Africa and Yinka Subair a Nigerian in charge of Ghana and other W African markets) were retrenched. Business realignment was given as an excuse but racism was a strong factor in this realignment. A competent African Finance Director (Lanre Sanusi) based in Nigeria resigned after she saw what the racist schemers did to her two African colleagues. It is worth noting that the three African Managers (two retrenched and one resigned) are more competent than the person imposed on the region. However the imposition was done because of the new Manager's racial background. The racial architects of this move are the African Regional Director (Karl Lintel a Dutch Belgian based in New York) and Africa HR Director (Jolette Walters a white South African based in Johannesburg). Please reach to black employees in Pfizer South Africa to get more about racism in their office set up. Senior positions in Pfizer South Africa are only reserved for whites.
Another phase of the business realignment touched on change of the distributorship model. Laborex a French company that is relatively new in the markets of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana has just been given exclusive Pfizer distributorship in these markets. Established African distributors that have done a good job for and partnered well with Pfizer for a while have all been kicked out. It is not true to imply that the "right race" distributor was picked because indigenous African distributors are no good. In total six indigenous distributors have been kicked out in the four markets. The next move is to implement a similar change in Nigeria which is the largest market in the affected region. This has not happened yet because Laborex is not yet in Nigeria but their Pfizer racist friends are working closely with them to make sure it finally happens. Pfizer employees in Ghana were given the option of getting employed by Laborex or take a package and go home. We salute the patriots as 80% of them opted to leave Pfizer instead of being employed against their wishes by the "right race" distributor – Bravo the Ghanaian patriots. This deal has been forced on many of us and it is possible that Pfizer project leader has personally benefited from this lucrative business deal that Laborex was given on a silver platter.
Africans working with Pfizer in the Nigeria East Africa Region believe that they have no leadership future in the company. They will be suppressed and just remain as laborers to serve the racist managers who will be imposed on them. Apartheid is long gone in South Africa but just taking shape within Pfizer Africa.
Outside the racial angle, it is worth noting that Pfizer's commitment to Africa is minimal. Though senior management is likely to deny, the current realignment is related to the ongoing Trovan court case in Nigeria and the recent political instability in Kenya. Pfizer preaches about "Working for a Healthier World" but this just remains lip service as far as commitment to black Africa is concerned.
Concerned Pfizer Africans
