Court upholds Shelter Afrique's boss immunity

The Court of Appeal has dismissed a case filed by former Shelter Afrique Finance Director Karen Njeri against her employer and Managing Director Allasane Ba. The court did this on grounds that the two (the company and its MD) were immune from criminal and civil suits before Kenyan courts.

Njeri had moved to Labour Court but her case against Mr Ba and Shelter Afrique was thrown out by judge Maureen Onyango, who considered a preliminary objection filed by Ba, saying he enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

In its ruling, the Court of Appeal said Shelter Afrique held the same status as an embassy, thus the case against Ba was a sovereign one and could not be litigated within the Kenyan territory. "The subject matter is sovereign and immune, not commercial and not actionable before Kenyan courts," the bench composed of justices Partick Kiage, William Ouko and Kathurima M'inoti ruled.

Njeri had asked the court to declare that she had been illegally sent on leave and also find that she could not attend a disciplinary meeting that was constituted by the board on grounds that she had been hospitalised after the beating by Ba.

She was seeking for reimbursement or in the alternative have the court award her for breach of contract. Njeri also wanted to have the directors compelled to probe the November 22, 2012 incident in which she was allegedly physically assaulted, leading to a twisted hand.

But Onyango upheld Ba's argument that the company had entered into a host country agreement with Kenya on October 19, 1983 in which senior managers, including MDs, were shielded from legal processes in the country.