• The Court of Appeal judges determined that after going through the documents produced in court they found that Kagwe had an arguable case.
• Their reason for suspending the ruling was because the action by the Labour court threatened the CS with civil jail which, once executed, cannot be reversed.
Image: FILE
The Court of Appeal has set aside a ruling that Health CS Mutahi Kagwe is guilty of contempt, sparing him the likelihood of a six-month jail term.
On Friday last week, the court suspended the ruling by Justice Onesmus Makau of the Employment and Labour court until Kagwe’s appeal is heard and determined.
Justices Roselyne Nambuye, Hannah Okwengu and Jamila Mohammed determined that after going through the documents produced in court they found that Kagwe had an arguable case even though it may not ultimately succeed.
The judges further said the reason for suspending the ruling was because the action by the Employment and Labour court threatened Kagwe with civil jail which, once executed, cannot be reversed.
Kagwe was on July 9 found guilty of contempt of court for transferring two senior officials at the National Quality Control Laboratory.
The lower court had stopped the ministry from transferring NQCL chief executive officer Hezekiah Chepkwony and deputy director Pius Wanjala but Kagwe went ahead to transfer them, thus ignoring the court order.
The two sued Kagwe for contempt and the court ruled in their favour. The CS petitioned the Court of Appeal to stop his six-month civil imprisonment if he was convicted.
On June 12, he transferred Chepkwony to the Kenya Medical Training College and Wanjala to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.
The CS argues that the judgment that barred him from transferring the two was erroneous and they had appealed it.
However, Justice Makau ruled that the Court of Appeal was yet to stay or suspend his orders.
“The deliberate violation of the judgment is evident as NQCL’s Board of Management made efforts to address the issues relating to the two. These efforts are demonstrated by the fact that the board put up an advert on 6.6.2020 advising the media to stop publishing falsehoods against Chepkwony and Wanjala.
"In its letter dated 8.6.2020, it sought to meet the CS for a discussion on the media reports, its mandate, challenges and the way forward but no meeting took place,” Judge Makau said.
The NQCL officials moved to court in May to stop their transfer, asking the court to commit the CS to civil jail for disobeying the orders of the court.
Kagwe responded that the orders did not permanently shield or bar the two from disciplinary action and deployment as long as they are employees of the Ministry of Health.
“I have exercised my powers as the authorised officer in the Ministry of Health by deploying different officers in their various stations taking to account their efficiency and effectiveness of the public service delivery, national integration and representation of Kenya’s diverse communities,” he said.