Mungatana: Kenya Ports Authority workers accused of forging certificates are from Coast

Kenya Ports Authority Lawyer Michael Sangoro

MOMBASA, KENYA: Lawyer Danson Mungatana representing 126 workers accused of forging certificates to gain employment at Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) says majority of the casualties are from the Coast region.

Mungatana however denied supporting their removal when he was KPA Chairman. Mungatana’s tenure at the port ended last year.

“I believe it is politically wrong to sack the affected workers because removing them will enable KPA's managers to employ people from other regions of the country,” he said.

KPA began an audit of certificates in 2015 and early this year asked the workers to show cause why they should not be disciplined.

Mungatana however has sued KPA on behalf of the workers seeking to stop the disciplinary action.

On Monday KPA's lawyer Michael Sangoro told the High Court that Mungatana endorsed a proposal to sack the workers when he acted as KPA board chairman.

Lawyer Mungatana swore an affidavit denying Sangoro's claim saying that he has always been opposed to the proposal to dismiss the workers.

Mungatana says in the affidavit that someone at the port informed him that majority of the workers who are going to be sacked by KPA over the fake certificates scandal are from Coast leading to his opposition to it.
"I am opposed to this because KPA management are planning to employ new people who will not necessarily come from Coast which will be unfair to the affected employees and yet they have used their skills to help the corporation earn profits," said Mungatana.
Sangoro said Mungatana should not participate in representing the workers because it would be prejudicial as he was the chairman of KPA when the decision to sack the workers was, allegedly, reached.