PHOTO | WILLIAM OERI | FILE Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho.
NATION MEDIA GROUP
A senior official at the Kenyan High
Commission in South Africa has failed to stop the Foreign Ministry from
ordering her return home.
Industrial Court judge Monica
Mbaru gave Ms Severine Luyali four weeks to report to the ministry’s
headquarters in Nairobi for redeployment.
Justice Mbaru
ruled that the ministry’s Principal Secretary, Dr Karanja Kibicho, had
the power to recall employees from any of Kenya’s missions abroad and
that the ministry had not flouted the law by refusing to extend her tour
of duty as second secretary to the Kenyan mission in South Africa.
Ms Luyali went to court claiming that Dr Kibicho’s decision to recall her despite her contract running until October had violated her rights.
Ms Luyali went to court claiming that Dr Kibicho’s decision to recall her despite her contract running until October had violated her rights.
She said the PS gave her eight days to return to Kenya and instructed the financial attaché to withhold her salary.
Dr
Kibicho denied the claims, saying the ministry followed the right
procedures and that it was justified in holding back her salary after
she refused to report back to Nairobi.
The PS said Ms
Luyali was afforded all the necessary support during her tour of duty
and that the dispute was a purely administrative one which did not
require the court’s intervention.
Justice Mbaru agreed
with him, ruling that even if Ms Luyali had a legitimate expectation
that her contract would run until October, she was obliged to accept the
change of decision.
“It does not only require an
employer to act in good faith, the employee is equally bound by the same
rule to act in utmost due diligence and in good faith towards
directions issued by the employer,” said Justice Mbaru.
She
ruled that during the four weeks in which Ms Luyali would prepare to
return home, the ministry would pay her allowances and facilitate her
and her family’s relocation.
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