Court orders Nyamira County to pay former employees Sh24.5 million

The High Court has ruled that the Nyamira County government must compensate five former employees a total of Sh24.6 million for unlawfully terminating their contracts.

Justice Wilfrida Okwany, sitting at the Nyamira High Court, instructed the county administration to pay the sum of Sh24,592,372 to Tonny Bironga, Evelyne Mogere, Johnson Nyandika, Rebecca Okari, Nicodemus Nyamweya, and Patrick Mamboleo.

The court ordered that the compensation, referred to as the decretal amount, be settled within a reasonable period.

Justice Okwany has issued temporary orders halting the arrest and six-month imprisonment of Jones Omwenga, the County Executive Committee Member for Finance, along with his chief officer, Asenath Maobe, and County Secretary Jack Magara.

The three had faced legal action over their failure to settle payments owed to former employees.

The judge suspended the warrants of arrest issued on January 3, 2025, which stemmed from their non-compliance with a court directive issued on July 4, 2024, requiring them to make the payments.

In response to a request from the county officials, Justice Okwany granted an extension on the timeline for settling the decretal amount and nullified the previous payment schedule that had been agreed upon through a consent dated October 31, 2024.

Justice Okwany directed the county officers found in contempt to present a practical proposal outlining revised timelines for paying the decretal amount.

Nonetheless, the judge refused to lift the arrest warrant previously issued against them.

Bironga has petitioned the court to compel the county to settle a Certificate of State Costs amounting to Sh810,925.

He further urged the court to cite the county officials for contempt, seeking their committal to a six-month jail term for defying orders issued by Justice Okwany.

According to Bironga, the officials breached a consent agreement dated October 31, 2024, in which the county committed to paying a total decretal sum of Sh39,985,950 in two instalments spread over two financial years.

Under the agreement, the first payment of Sh9,992,975 was due either by December 15, 2024, or March 31, 2025, while the second tranche of Sh19,992,975 was to be cleared by October 10, 2025.

However, the county officers failed to comply with the consent orders and instead filed an application dated January 16, 2025, seeking a stay of execution of the arrest warrants issued on January 3, 2025.

They also requested additional time to settle the outstanding decretal amount.

In her ruling delivered on February 27, 2025, Justice Okwany stated that she lacked jurisdiction to hear and determine employment-related matters, specifically the decree arising from the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Kericho in the case of Bironga and Others v. County Government of Nyamira.

Justice Okwany noted that it was neither necessary nor in the interest of justice to revisit the issue of jurisdiction in a matter that had already been resolved.

She emphasized that the case was only reopened to address the default and non-compliance by the county officers with the terms of their consent.

"I find that it was not necessary or in the interest of justice to determine the issue of jurisdiction on a matter that was resolved," she stated.