NSSF ordered to pay ex-manager Sh3m for unfair dismissal

By JOSEPH WANGUI
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Summary

• Justices Wanjiru Karanja, Martha Koome and Asike Makhandia told the NSSF board to pay the amount within 30 days.
• The judges also directed the board to deposit the balance of Sh3.3 million in an interest-earning joint account within 45 days. The account will be in the names of Ms Karori and the NSSF lawyers.
• The court issued the orders as conditions of allowing an application by the NSSF to suspend execution of the Labour Court’s award of Sh6.3 million compensation for unfair dismissal over alleged financial malpractices.

The Court of Appeal has ordered the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to pay its former Nakuru manager Caroline Wanjiru Karori Sh3 million as part of the Sh6.3 million the Labour Court awarded for unfair dismissal.

Justices Wanjiru Karanja, Martha Koome and Asike Makhandia told the NSSF board to pay the amount within 30 days.

The judges also directed the board to deposit the balance of Sh3.3 million in an interest-earning joint account within 45 days. The account will be in the names of Ms Karori and the NSSF lawyers.

The court issued the orders as conditions of allowing an application by the NSSF to suspend execution of the Labour Court’s award of Sh6.3 million compensation for unfair dismissal over alleged financial malpractices.

Ms Karori, who joined the State-owned retirement benefits scheme in 2011, was a senior officer until 2017 when she got accused of financial malpractices by an anonymous person. The claims led to her termination.

Labour judge Monica Mbaru found the termination lacked justifiable cause and the sanction of summary dismissal lacked foundation.

“No genuine, valid or fair reason applied to find Ms Karori culpable and deserving of summary dismissal. At the time of the disciplinary hearing on August 2, 2017, there was no genuine and reasonable cause to justify a summary dismissal being issued as a sanction to her,” said justice Mbaru.

The court found there was no evidence to prove the allegations of financial malpractices as there was no indication that the records were manipulated by Ms Karori or any other employee under her supervision.

She was dismissed on October 16, 2017 on four claims, including falsifying work tickets for vehicle KBT 635N.

Others were fraudulently claiming extra night-out allowances amounting to Sh60,000 and abetting lack of honesty in the staff under her supervision.

She was also accused of refusing to cooperate with auditors when asked to write a statement.

NSSF told the court that Ms Karori had been informed through an anonymous letter from a whistle-blower of the NSSF’s financial impropriety and fraudulent activities and which letter was copied to the EACC which started investigations.

The board called for an investigation, claiming that the manager attempted to frustrate the probe by refusing to co-operate with the auditors.