Corporate News
By EDWIN MUTAI, emutai@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- Petitioners say they were misled into abandoning a Sh3.2 billion severance pay claim and settle for an out-of-court sum of Sh1.4 billion as compensation following the retrenchment.
Former employees of Telkom Kenya want Parliament to
investigate the board of the telco over failure to pay compensation to
997 retrenched staff in 2006.
In a petition filed in the National Assembly dated April 24,
the former employees are also seeking Parliament’s intervention to have
lawyer Mohamed Nyaoga and company secretary Ngana Ivy answer to claims
of conflict of interest, misconduct and an attempt to defraud
petitioners through misrepresentation.
The petitioners claim that the respondents
fraudulently, through misrepresentation, led them into abandoning a
claim of Sh3.2 billion severance pay and settle for an out-of-court sum
of Sh1.4 billion as compensation following the retrenchment.
“The settlement was initiated by Telkom Kenya and
resulted in loss of close to Sh2 billion which the petitioners agreed to
forfeit on assumption that Telkom Kenya truly intended to settle the
matter immediately,” states the petition which will be tabled in the
House on Tuesday afternoon.
The Constitution requires Speaker Justin Muturi to promptly relay any petition from members of the public to MPs.
The petitioners state that it later occurred to
them that the settlement deal was a fraud and outright misrepresentation
by the board, directors and advocates.
“There is also a case of conflict of interest
wherein Mr Mohammed Nyaoga, who is a member of the board of Telkom Kenya
and also an advocate, was instructed to act on the matter on behalf of
Telkom and personally steered the negotiations leading to the settlement
deed,” the petitioners, led by John Ochanda, say.
They want the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee
chaired by Ainabkoi MP Samuel Chepkonga, a former Communications
Commission of Kenya chief executive officer, to summon 12 individuals
among them suspended Investment Secretary Esther Koimett and former
KenGen managing director Eddy Njoroge.
Mr Njoroge is the chairman of Telkom Kenya’s board
of directors. The former employees also want Vincent Lobry, Telkom Kenya
chief executive, board members Daniel Delestre, Gerald Ries, Oliver
Froisat and Ashif Kassam to appear before MPs over the settlement of
retrenched staff’s dues.
The petitioners also want Treasury Secretary Henry
Rotich summoned by virtue of being the holder of the 30 per cent
government shares in Telkom Kenya after dilution of the shareholding
from 49 per cent in favour of France Telkom on December 31, 2007.
Interrogated by MPs
Attorney General Githu Muigai, the principal adviser of the government, is also listed among those to be interrogated by MPs.
The petitioners have also enjoined Telkom Kenya as respondents.
They also want the House to investigate claims that
the telco is about to collapse and that France Telkom, which owns 70
per cent of the company, is in the process of being sold to third
parties.
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