Kenya Ports Authority's legal battle with pensioners

A section of the Kenya Ports Authority container terminal in Mombasa. [PHOTO BY GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

Kenya Ports Authority's (KPA) top managers and pension scheme directors are locked in a fierce legal battle at the Mombasa High Court over the control of property worth Sh700 million the pensioners want to buy in Kilifi County.

The pensioners do not want KPA to interfere in the management of the scheme, but KPA claims it has the right to do so, being a trustee of the pension scheme.

rich scheme

By the time KPA obtained orders last week suspending the transaction, the pensioners had already released Sh70 million to the seller's lawyer.

KPA moved to court faulting the pension directors for transacting with a vendor who "has no legal rights to sell the property" and accused them of plotting a clandestine and illegal conspiracy without scrutiny.

KPA's pension scheme is the richest in Kenya with multi-billion-shilling properties and assets across the country.

The battle came to court on April 16 when the pensioners applied to have KPA blocked from meddling in their directors' decision to buy the Sh700 million land at Vipingo Ridge.

Through their lawyer Randolph Tindika, the pension scheme directors secured orders restraining KPA managers or their agents from interfering with purchase of the property.

STAGE SET

The scheme directors were preparing to complete the deal with Kikambala Development company when KPA's Board and Legal Services General Manager Catherine Muthoni Gatere rushed to court on May 4 and stopped the transaction the next day.

"The said purported agreement for sale is not signed by all trustees as is required by the provisions of the Trust Deed. Neither is it sealed with the common seal of the scheme, which is still in my possession in my office," she said before Justice Mathew Anyara Emukule.

Pension chairman Harry John Paul Arigi signed an affidavit saying members elected him to protect their interests, hence he has the power to manage it exclusively and independently without any interference from KPA.

The stage is now set for a full hearing in two weeks.