PS risks jail term for failing to rehire chief

Principal Secretary for State Department of Interior and Coordination of National Government Karanja Kibicho (pictured) risks being jailed for six months for failing to reinstate a chief in Kisii County.

Justice Mathews Nduma of the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Kisumu had delivered a judgment dated October 25, 2018, in which he ordered Kibicho to reinstate Shem Otachi as the chief of Ikuruma location.

Justice Nduma had alternatively ordered the PS to engage Otachi in an equivalent position without loss of status, salary, allowances and other benefits.

Lawyer Ndemo Mokaya for Otachi, who has moved to court under a Certificate of Urgency, said his client was employed by the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government on December 20, 2013.

“My client was recruited on a monthly salary of Sh19,323 and reported to work on December 20, 2013, and worked continuously until August 11, 2015, when his services were terminated with effect from May 27, 2015, on allegations that he had forged his KCSE certificate,” he told the court.

Mokaya further told the court that his client was subsequently charged before Chief Magistrate Court in Kibera for forging his KCSE certificate and using it to seek employment.

The criminal case was withdrawn on September 28, 2016, after it was proved that he had not forged his certificate.

The lawyer said an order for the reinstatement of his client was served on Kibicho on April 3, 2019, but that he has openly defied to implement it.