Supreme Court refers battle between Bia Tosha, KBL back to Court of Appeal

The Supreme Court has referred a case between Bia Tosha and Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) back to the Court of Appeal.

The apex court ruled that it has no jurisdiction to hear the application by Bia Tosha seeking to have the KBL managers held in contempt of court.

Bia Tosha, a distribution company, had moved to the Supreme Court saying its application to have East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) bosses punished for contempt of court should be heard first before the main appeal.

The Supreme Court, however, ruled that only the Court of Appeal can hear and determine the application.

The Court of Appeal had ordered that the entire case be fast-tracked, but Bia Tosha insisted that its right to earn money had been breached after EABL failed to honour the appellate court’s order to restore the contract.

The legal battle is over a beer distribution contract on 22 routes in Nairobi.

Bia Tosha claims it has paid over Ksh.38 million in goodwill for the distribution routes and that EABL declared the routes as part of sections which have been making profits over the years.

But EABL avers that the said contract with distributors is restricted and that any dispute should first go through mediation and arbitration.

The manufacturer further adds that the they only appointed other distributors to the 22 routes in dispute after Bia Tosha failed to sufficiently supply the areas.