Court suspends staff restructuring exercise at Kenya Railways

The Employment and Labour Relations Court has issued interim orders suspending the staff restructuring exercise ongoing at the Kenya Railways Corporation pending the hearing and determination of a case filed in court.

While certifying the matter as urgent, Justice Hellen Wasilwa further issued an interim order suspending the advert KRC placed in newspapers on the 6th March 2018 announcing fifteen vacancies at the Corporation.

In the petition filed by activist Okiya Omtata, the advertised vacancies were subjectively created through the irregular, hurried, arbitrary and opaque implementation of the staff restructuring exercise skewed to suit preferred individuals.

“That the restructuring process has been used to victimize many innocent staff members and that the outcome of whole process is predetermined to favor certain individuals,” claimed Omtatah

In his argunent,  Omtatah termed implementation of the staff restructuring as irregular and in violation of the principle of the rule of law enshrined in the Constitution.

Some of the vacant post that were advertised include :General Manager Finance; General Manager Internal Audit; General Manager Supply Chain Management; General Manager Research Planning and Compliance; Corporate Affairs and Public Relations Manager

Others include; Security Services Manager; Information Communications Technology (ICT) Manager; Research Planning and Compliance Manager; Planning, Design and Environment Manager; Administration Manager; Assistant Manager Board Services; Assistant Architecture Manager; Assistant Property Manager; Assistant Business Development Manager and Assistant Rail Safety Manager.