Labour court stops eviction of sacked KRA manager
Mr Julius Kihara who was sacked by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) over alleged insubordination.
What you need to know:
- Mr Kihara was sacked by the company in September 2021 over allegations of negligence of duty and insubordination.
- Mr Kihara has termed his firing as unlawful because his case was supposed to have been handled by the Public Service Commission.
A senior employee of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), who was sacked over alleged insubordination, has gotten a reprieve after the Labour Court in Nairobi stopped his eviction from his Bamburi residence.
Justice Monicah Mbaru has also certified as urgent a case lodged by Mr Julius Kaiya Kihara seeking to reverse KRA’s decision to sack him.
Mr Kihara, a manager at KRA Mombasa Port Operations, was sacked by the company in September 2021 over allegations of ‘negligence of duty and insubordination’ for failing to submit monthly progress reports.
But Mr Kihara has termed his firing as unlawful because his case was supposed to have been handled by the Public Service Commission since he has been in service for more than 15 years.
He claims he was sacked irregularly, bringing to an abrupt end his 32 years of service with the tax man.
Mr Kihara had held the managerial position for four years (April 2018 to September 2021) and had been issued with various recommendations and certificates of recognition as well as cash bonuses, the last amounting to of Sh269,380 having been given in August 2021.
His troubles started in April 2020 when he received a letter placing him on performance improvement plan (PIP) for three months.
The letter indicated that “he neither submitted the monthly progress reports to performance management division nor provide any explanation for his failure, which amounts to insubordination and negligence of duty.”
However, Mr Kihara explained that the reports were filed and addressed to the Human Resource department officer, Gladys Mwangi, who when questioned reported to have overlooked sharing it with her boss Mr Wilson Gaconi.
“The decisions were carried out without fair hearing, high handedly, oppressively and without any iota of evidence of or even allegation of any wrong doing concerning his core duties as a manager custom –port and border control,” his lawyer Charles Kihara says in the court papers.
In litigation Mr Kihara has named the KRA, Mr Gaconi (Chief Manager in charge of Human Resources) and Dr David Wachira Kinuu (Commissioner Support Services in charge of Human Resources) as the respondents.
He claims that although he had been informed in the sacking letter he would be paid a three months’ salary, to-date he has not received the money.
Mr Kihara says he is likely not to secure any other employment since he was relieved of his duties 18 months to his retirement date.
Hearing of the case will be held on February 19, 2022.
