Foundation to go ahead and execute court orders if payment is not made
Image: FILE
The High Court on Thursday ordered insurance firm Amaco to pay Sh2 million within 14 days to Mama Rael Memorial Foundation.
The payment is part of a Sh15 million compensation awarded by court to the foundation in a ruling delivered last year.
Justice Msagha Mbogholi ordered Africa Merchant Assurance Company to also deposit a secured guarantee of Sh13 million from a reputable bank to complete the payment.
Failure to do so will give the foundation the go-ahead to execute the judgment to get the money.
“The ruling made on December 5, 2019, is varied in the manner; the order for the deposit of Sh5 million is hereby set aside,” Mbogholi said.
Amaco filed an application on June 17, 2019, seeking orders to stay execution pending the hearing of an appeal.
“The application was allowed provided the insurance company deposited Sh5 million in an interest-earning account in the joint names of the advocates for the parties within 30 days from the date of the ruling,” the court said.
Amaco did not comply but instead filed an application in January 2020 to review the order and be allowed to deposit Sh2 million and a guarantee for the balance.
The application was, however, opposed by the foundation's lawyer Henry Kurauka. He sought to have the application dismissed.
Mbogholi said the reason advanced by Amaco to review and vary the terms provided to secure a stay of the execution was that they have not been able to raise Sh5 million due to a severe economic downturn.
The judge said the application by Amaco on economic hard times as failing within ‘any other sufficient reason’.
“I hasten to observe that a bank guarantee may not attract interest but for purposes of security, the responded shall be assured of recovery of the decretal sum in the event the appeal fails," Mbogholi said.
edited by peter obuya