- The Employment and Labour Relations Court upheld the dismissal of 61 contract staff from former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua’s office
- Justice Hellen Wasilwa stated the employees were on fixed-term contracts explicitly tied to Gachagua’s tenure and could not expect continuation once he was ousted
- Petitioners led by lawyer Suyianka Lempaa argued the sackings were politically motivated and lacked due process, but the court rejected this
- The court made a clear distinction for staff on permanent terms, affirming they should be retained or redeployed
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Didacus Malowa, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings over three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.
The Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nairobi has dismissed a petition challenging the dismissal of 61 employees who served in the office of former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua.
The court affirmed that the employees’ contracts ended lawfully with his impeachment in October 2024.
In her judgment, Justice Hellen Wasilwa ruled that the employees were not unfairly dismissed but were on fixed-term contracts explicitly tied to Gachagua’s tenure.
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The court held that their jobs were contingent on the former deputy president holding office, and once he was impeached, the legal basis for their employment ceased to exist.
“It is clear that the said 61 officers were employed on local agreement terms with a provision that the contract was pegged to the tenure of office of the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who has since been impeached as per the evidence adduced,” Justice Wasilwa stated as reported by Nation.
Why was staff dismissal in Gachagua’s office challenged
The case was filed by Nairobi-based lawyer Suyianka Lempaa alongside the Africa Centre for Peace and Human Rights.
The petitioners had argued that the mass sacking of staff was unlawful, politically motivated, and a violation of fair labour practices and human dignity.
According to them, the dismissals punished civil servants for political tensions between Gachagua and President William Ruto, effectively dragging neutral bureaucrats into political crossfire.
“The civil servants should not be the grass that suffers when most political giants lock horns,” Lempaa told the court.
He argued that the termination, which followed instructions issued via text messages asking staff to collect dismissal letters, was neither preceded by a disciplinary process nor conducted under legal redundancy procedures.
Why could Gachagua’s staff not continue working
But the court rejected those arguments, finding that the staff knowingly signed contracts pegged to Gachagua’s term.
Justice Wasilwa emphasised that there was no legal obligation to retain or redeploy contract staff once their appointing authority, Gachagua, was ousted.
“They signed the agreement agreeing to serve during the tenure of the former Deputy President and therefore they cannot derogate on this fact,” she explained
However, in a critical distinction, the court ruled that employees hired on permanent and pensionable terms should either be retained or redeployed.
According to the Public Service Commission (PSC), out of the approximately 300 staff who received termination instructions, only 26 were on permanent terms. These individuals were not affected by the mass dismissal.
In court documents, PSC CEO Paul Famba clarified that the bulk of Gachagua’s staff were on local agreements aligned with the DP’s term and thus could not expect continuity.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
