Court halts university plan to cut managers's perks

A court in Nyeri has suspended a decision by the Meru University vice chancellor to stop paying allowances to senior managers.

In his ruling on Tuesday, Justice Nzioki wa Makau granted leave to three senior managers to institute judicial review proceedings against Romanus Odhiambo.

The three are Dr Elijah Walubuka, registrar in charge of administration and planning, Nephat Njeru, finance officer, and Prof Simon Thuranira, the registrar academics and student affairs.

They claim that on September 21, the VC stopped payment of their allowances that had been effected in 2016 by the university.

“The applicants have been receiving monthly allowances in the form of water and electricity Sh7,000, management allowance Sh65,000, non-use of official car Sh31,000, annual allowances for books Sh40,000 and annual leave allowance Sh30, 000,” read court documents. 

Through lawyer Danstan Omari, they claim that university’s unilateral decision to arbitrarily review the terms and conditions of their employment without giving them an opportunity to be heard is illegal.

“That so as far as the applicants were not involved in the process leading to the making of the impugned decision by the VC, it is without doubt that the process was opaque and non-inclusive contrary to the national values and principles of governance set under Article 10 of the Constitution,” Omari says.

The managers also aver that VC Odhiambo’s decision is in flagrant violation of the Constitution because it was made without consulting the persons it would ultimately affect though it formed part of their terms and conditions of service as senior management officers.

Edited by Henry Makori