Kisumu County to pay sacked staff Ksh 18 million

Kisumu County Government has suffered a major blow after the Industrial Court ordered it to pay a sum of Ksh 18 million as compensation to five sacked County Executive Committee Members.

According to the Court, the five CECs; Stephen Orot (Agriculture), Vincent Kodera (Roads), Rhoda Obadha (Environment), Joseph Okal (Finance) and Barack Abonyo (Water) should be paid Ksh 3.6 million each as compensation.

The five CECs were accused of fending vested interests during their tenure at the county government thereby compromising the county’s development.

They, however, moved to court to challenge their dismissal by Governor Jack Ranguma on January 30th, 2015.

The five executives complained about violation of rights after they were ousted without an official notice or conferred hearing.

Justice Maureen Onyango ruled that they were unconstitutionally sacked by Governor Ranguma and that the County Government should atone the cost of the suit.

K’Odera, Orot and Abonyo told the court that their sack was unconstitutional and wanted court to compel the government to pay them for the rest of their terms.

The County Government through lawyer Geoffrey Yogo contended that the five were laid off by conforming to protocol and hence appealed the court to dismiss the petition.

By Shamsa AbdulKadir