Court issues another arrest warrant against Governor Martin Wambora
Council of Governors (CoG) Chair and Governor of Embu County Martin Wambora during a past media briefing.
The Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nyeri has issued another warrant of arrest against Embu Governor Martin Wambora after he failed to appear in court.
The county boss and three other top county officials, were summoned to appear before Justice Njagi Marete for sentencing in a case where they were accused of failing to remit staff union dues.
The governor's co-accused were county secretary, Finance and Economic Planning Executive and Finance Chief Officer.
This is the second time Justice Marete has declined to lift the warrant of arrest orders.
On March 15, the governor moved to court in an application seeking to have the ruling set aside but the judge dismissed the request.
The four are embroiled in a tussle with the county government workers’ union after failing to remit statutory fees despite a court order issued on December 1, 2020 instructing them to do so.
Only County Secretary Johnson Nyaga, Acting Finance CEC Mary Munene and Acting Chief Officer Domiano Muthee were present in court on Thursday.
Embu County Chief Officer of Finance Damiano Munene (left) acting Finance Executive Mercy Munene and County Secretary Johnson Nyaga appear before Nyeri Employment and Labour Relations Court on March 17, 2022.
Lawyer Robinson Kigen, who represented the county government, claimed the governor was sick and had been advised by his doctor to take a six-day bed rest since March 13.
He presented before the court a medical letter written by Professor Mungai Ngugi to the governor.
But Justice Marete expunged the letter as evidence and questioned its authenticity saying the document was uncertified and undated.
"With the evidence having been disputed, the Officer Commanding Station in Nyeri is to effect the arrest and present the contemnor on March 24 for sentencing,” he ordered.
He also postponed the sentencing of the other three county officials and asked them to accompany the governor on March 24.
While mitigating for the contemnors, Mr Kigen said the county officials were not aware of the proceedings of March 11 since the county's former advocate had not informed them.
"We only got to know about the ruling issued last week that found the county government in contempt and the warrants of arrest from the media on Tuesday," he said.
He claimed that they were neither issued with the contempt of court application nor any notice that they were needed for contempt.
Mr Kigen argued that Ms Munene and Mr Muthee were acting and had been in office a few months.
He told the court that the officials were unaware of the court proceedings. Justice Marete dismissed the allegations saying it was impossible since the matter was filed in November 2020.
As proof that they were unaware of the court proceedings, Mr Kigen told the court that the previous county lawyer was unaware of a ruling issued earlier in the suit.
He faulted the court’s registry for sending the notice of ruling to a wrong email address.
But the union’s lawyer Bernard Odero dismissed the claim saying that although the email was sent to a wrong address, normally, the registry staff make phone calls to parties to inform them of court proceedings.
According to Mr Odero, the county lawyer had contacted him about the notice of ruling and warrants of arrest.
He also disputed Governor Wambora’s claims that he could not attend court saying that he ought to have requested the court to hold a virtual proceeding.
