Acting National Lands Commission CEO Kabale Tache has gotten a temporary reprieve after the Court of Appeal suspended a contempt of court fine.
A three-judge bench on Friday put on hold the decision of the High Court to fine Kabale Sh300,000 for failing to implement a court directive.
Judges Fatuma Sichale, Hannah Okwengu and Wanjiru Karanja suspended the ruling until Kabale's appeal is heard and determined.
"This honourable court be pleased to issue a temporary order of stay of execution of ruling by Justice Maureen Onyango pending hearing and determination of this appeal," the bench ruled.
Kabale was found guilty on October 7, 2019 by Justice Onyango of the Employment and Labour Relations Court.
She was fined for failing to reinstate four directors of the commission who had been suspended.
The four directors include Salome Munubi, Fibian Lukalo, Francis Mugo and Leonard Omullo who had been suspended on allegations of insubordination.
Kabale had argued she didn't have powers to reinstate or offer employment contracts to the four since according to the NLC human resource manual, that was the mandate of the commission.
However since the term of chairman Mohamed Swazuri and his team had expired in February, and the court's ruling was made on May 2019, Kabale could not act on the directive until a commission was appointed.
Edited by peter obuya
