Nakuru County adamant despite court orders to allow staff into War Memorial Hospital

The Environment and Land Court in Nakuru has issued fresh orders to area police commander Samuel Ndanyi to ensure the staff of War Memorial Hospital regain access to the facility.

Justice Millicent Odeny told Ndanyi that in the event he was unable to implement the orders, he should appear before her in person on January 30 to explain.

On Thursday, the Judge, directed the police boss to provide security to the directors, nurses, doctors and subordinate staff to regain access to the hospital after they were barred by county enforcement officers.

Further, the Odeny warned Ndanyi against disobeying court orders and urged the Attorney General's office to advise him accordingly.

"A fresh order is to be extracted and served upon the Nakuru Police Commander for the implementation. In default, he should appear in court and explain why action should not be taken against him for the disobedience," she ordered.

The judge issued the orders after she was informed that Ndanyi had not only disobeyed the order she issued on January 23, but had also refused to be served.

Lawyers Kahiga Waitindi and Chomba Kamau, who represent the hospital management and staff, said they had a hard time when they attempted to serve Ndanyi and the county enforcement team manning the hospital.

The enforcement team forcefully took over the hospital management at 3 am on Tuesday and has refused to vacate despite the orders.

"A court process server attempted to serve the enforcement team, but they refused and said they would only receive the order upon service by the County Commander," said Kahiga.

The lawyer said the process server was forced to pin the order at the gate of the hospital, as a form of official service to the enforcement team.

Chomba urged the court to summon Ndanyi to explain himself. He said an attempt to personally serve was unsuccessful because he disappeared and failed to return calls or messages.

"The commander should be summoned to appear before the court and state why he is finding it difficult to comply with the orders," he submitted.

Chomba filed an affidavit of service dated January 24 as proof that despite Ndanyi's action, they were able to serve him through other means, including electronic service.

He insisted that the police boss was aware of the situation and had no basis to disobey the order.

The orders came even as the enforcement team remained adamant that they would not leave the premises until Ndanyi directed so.

Yesterday, the team chased the staff and management who had camped outside, with the hope that the orders would be executed and they would be allowed back to the hospital.

"We have been told to leave the area or be tear-gassed. We have decided to go home and wait for further directions from the management," said a hospital staff who sought anonymity.

The case will be mentioned on January 30 to confirm if Ndanyi has complied with the orders.