- He was accused of forging the signature of former Medical Services PS Mary Ngari.
- Wanga got another win when a court dismissed a case to have him barred from being appointed the substantive city manager.
Image: FILE
The High Court has dismissed a fraud case against Kisumu City manager Abala Wanga.
He was accused of forging the signature of former Medical Services PS Mary Ngari.
The city boss challenged the ruling made by Kiambu senior principal magistrate Teresia Nyangena, who in 2019 sentenced him to six months in jail without the option of a fine after finding him guilty of engaging in multiple fraud.
According to Nyangena, Wanga alongside Valentine Magero were guilty of conspiring to defraud the Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologist Board with intent to swindle the board over Sh400,000.
But Justice Mary Kasango while quashing the ruling said the prosecution failed to prove that the act by Wanga was with an intent to deceive.
“The Permanent Secretary confirmed that the first appellant was a signatory to the bank account. He continued to be a co-signatory to the bank alongside four other signatories,” she pointed out.
When the former PS testified in the case for the prosecution, Justice Kasango said she was not asked whether she indeed authorised the first appellant to write and sign the impugned letter during her cross examination.
In his defence, Wanga said he wrote the letter on behalf of the PS as the then chief executive officer of KMLTTB.
In the letter dated September 9, 2011, addressed to the branch manager of National Bank of Kenya (Kenyatta National Hospital branch), Wanga noted that he, in addition to four other signatories, would be mandatory signatory to the bank accounts of the KMLTTB.
“There is obviously no deceit on the part of the first appellant in making that request. The making and signing of the impugned letter fell short of a criminal act,” he said.
Justice Kasango noted that the move could (at most) only attract disciplinary action by the employer.
“The prosecution failed to prove the case of making a document without authority, contrary to Section 357(a) of the Penal Code, to the required criminal standard".
Wanga got another win when the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Kisumu dismissed a case where a petitioner sought to have him barred from being appointed the substantive city manager.
A petitioner had moved to court to challenge the appointment on grounds that the recruitment process by the County Public Service Board was illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.
Benard Omondi Ouko challenged the qualification of Wanga to serve in a public office on the ground that he had been convicted and the said conviction had not been overturned by a competent court.
However, Justice Stephen Radido while dismissing the petition noted that the court lacked jurisdiction. He set aside the petition with costs to the petitioner.
Edited by Henry Makori