The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) has been ordered by the High Court to pay Ksh.1.5 million to one of its employees as compensation for an improper transfer from Nairobi to Mombasa.
Christine Mwangi, an authority accountant, filed a lawsuit in December 2022, disputing the decision of the then-KEMSA CEO to transfer her from Nairobi to the Mombasa Regional Depot after she raised a red flag about a financial impropriety.
She told Court that the CEO issued an order on October 27, 2022, to transfer her to the Mombasa Regional Depot shortly after she revoked the CEO’s decision to accept payment of Ksh.8.7 million to a law firm.
Further, the petitioner claimed that she canceled the payment after learning she had been duped by the CEO into making an unusual payment.
She also told the court that the person in charge of assigning her work at the Mombasa depot where she was transferred was her junior.
Additionally, she claims that her services were not required at the Mombasa depot because there was no accounting work at the station because it exclusively held third-party stocks.
Christine claims that the only reason she was transferred to Mombasa was because the CEO wanted to get rid of her at the headquarters.
Delivering the judgement, Employment and Labour Relations Court judge Justice Stella Rutto ruled that the KEMSA CEO violated Christine Mwangi’s rights and that the concerns raised in the petition were valid and not far-fetched.
The court agreed with the petitioner that the timing of the transfer was suspect and that it amounted to victimization or discrimination of a public officer.
