Court orders Governors to re-hire and compensate sacked County Executives

Bomet county Executive Committee members sacked by Gonernor Ruto, Elizabeth Langat (right) and Patricia Lesoi (left) addressing the press outside Nakuru law courts on September 23,2016 after the court ordered Bomet county to pay them Sh4 million each for compensation. [PHOTO:KIPSANG JOSEPH/Standard]

Three governors have been ordered to reinstate and compensate members of their county executive for unfair dismissal.

The Industrial Court ordered Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto to pay two sacked officers Sh8 million while his Nyeri counterpart Nderitu Gachagua is to pay Sh4.5 million to one employee. Tharaka Nithi’s Samuel Ragwa was ordered to reinstate an officer he dismissed.

The Employment and Labour Relations court in Nakuru ordered that Elizabeth Lang’at and Patricia Lasoi from Bomet be compensated a total of Sh8.56 milion in damages after they were sacked in August 2015. The court further awarded them one year gross wages.

The two had moved to court under a certificate of urgency seeking orders to prevent Governor Ruto from sacking them.

They were, however, served with letters of dismissal on March 30, 2016. Lasoi, who was then the county executive for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, was informed that she had failed to ensure proper management of urban centres, leading to the mushrooming of unapproved structures.

The letter indicated that she had continuously performed below par despite continuous warnings.

Langat’s dismissal letter indicated that she had performed poorly as the executive in charge of Agriculture and Fisheries. She was also accused of being absent from duty without justifiable reasons. Her letter cited her for misconduct in managing and handling staff.

Justice Stephen Radido regretted that the compensation would be paid from public funds for the unconstitutional and unfair actions of the governor.

However, the governor was not cited for acting in bad faith by the litigants — Langat and Lasoi.

Had this been established, the court would have ordered that the governor personally pay for the damages. The two welcomed the ruling and promised to continue serving the people of Bomet.

In Nyeri, Justice Byram Ongaya ordered the county to pay Cecilia Ndungu Sh4.5 million for wrongful dismissal as the executive member in charge of culture, gender and social development. Ragwa was ordered to reinstate Dr Fredrick Njeru Kamunde to his former position as Tharaka Nithi County Secretary.

Cabinet reshuffle

Kamunde had sued the county government and the governor after Ragwa communicated his intention to reshuffle him as the Director of Education in charge of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) and Vocation Training. Between March 2013 and August 2014, Kamunde was engaged by the Transition Authority to serve as the interim county secretary.

He argued that the redeployment contravened his right to fair administrative action and that he was not given reasons for his transfer. But Ragwa argued that Kamunde was incompetent and arrogant, often absent from duty without permission and had also failed to account for money and imprest.

Justice Ongaya ruled that Ragwa had acted in breach of the contract of service since Kamunde was appointed to the office for five years.

The Nyeri County Government will have to part with Sh4.5 million to compensate Ndung’u after her docket was abolished. Ndungu was asking for Sh9.3 million from the county, being lost future earnings after she was fired and her docket in the county executive scrapped before the expiry of her five-year term.

On December 5, 2014, the Industrial court issued orders, which were later upheld by the Court of Appeal, to quash the decision by Governor Gachagua to fire Ndung’u from the office.