Corporate News
Telposta Towers, the former headquarters of Telkom Kenya. PHOTO | FILE
By ABIUD OCHIENG
In Summary
- Retrenched workers of defunct State firm lose bid to enforce settlement agreement.
Former Telkom Kenya employees seeking Sh1.4 billion
retirement payoff from the defunct State corporation have lost a bid to
enforce a settlement agreement.
High Court judge Alfred Mabeya declined to enforce the
agreement the 997 former employees had entered with Telkom, after
establishing that the workers had not met certain requirements.
The Deed of Settlement, dated August 8, 2014,
required the former workers through their lawyer to prepare and submit
to Telkom’s lawyers duly executed consents withdrawing or marking all
pending cases they have against Telkom.
“It was then that Telkom’s lawyers are enjoined to
execute such consents and file them in the respective suits. It is only
then that the obligations as to payments on the part of Telkom shall
arise,” Justice Mabeya said.
He said it is only after complying with the said
provisions of the deed that the former workers can demand specific
performance by Telkom, failure to which they can file a case on the
same.
Telkom had in its arguments also said it had not
authorised its lawyer to draft the agreement, a claim the judge said was
not honest on the part of the former employer.
He said a lawyer has an implied authority to enter
into a compromise on behalf of his client adding: “This is a clear
statement of the law that does not require any authority.”
He noted that it was not in dispute that the 997
former employees dedicated their youthful years to Telkom and that they
offered their services as best as they could to the company which “
immensely benefited” until it terminated those services during its
staff rationalisation programme.
“It is regrettable that even after two courts—the
High Court and the Court of Appeal,— have pronounced that Telkom ought
to pay the 997 former employees certain monies, the company is still
bent on postponing its day of reckoning,” the judge said.
The judge observed that the company’s bid to extend
the legal battles would subject the 997 former employees to further
suffering and asked shareholders to also consider the element of
interest that will ultimately be payable on the amount to be awarded to
the former employees.
“No amount of postponement can save Telkom from its
legal obligations. If the law and procedure would have allowed, the
proceedings should have terminated at this juncture but this is not the
case,” Justice Mabeya said.
The workers were retrenched in 2006, but Telkom was found to have acted discriminatorily by the High Court.
The decision was upheld by Court of Appeal judges who ruled and directed Telkom to compensate the employees with Sh3.2 billion.
The laid off staff later entered into an out- of-
court agreement with Telkom in August last year where they settled for
Sh1.4 billion.
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