Lawyer Donald Kipkorir
has urged Kenyans to nominate a “worthy” charity organisation or government
hospital cancer departments.
The statement on Tuesday afternoon
came after the lawyer announced that he was planning on donating the proceeds
of a legal settlement to a cancer centre, in tribute to his mother, who
succumbed to cancer in 2023.
“Due to the overwhelming
response to my intended donation to Cancer Charity of the money the High Court
ordered Muthaiga Country Club to pay me, I need the public to nominate for me a
worthy charity organisation or government hospital cancer departments,” he
said.
Kipkorir added that some
of his friends have pledged to match the donation.
“It has to be a cancer
charity that assists the poor. Or a cancer department of a government hospital,”
he clarified.
The donation would be sourced directly from the legal
settlement in a case against Muthaiga Country Club.
"In honour of her (his mother) memory, I will
give to a Cancer Charity all the money Muthaiga Country Club was ordered to pay
me,” Kipkorir said.
The lawyer also described the significant financial
burden incurred during his mother's treatment, stating that he did not receive
any support.
The Sh1 million settlement was awarded as damages
after the High Court ruled that the Muthaiga Country Club violated Kipkorir’s
constitutional rights by denying him entry, despite being invited by a member.
Delivering judgment on Friday, Justice Chacha Mwita
found that the club acted unlawfully and discriminatorily when it blocked
Kipkorir’s access.
While the court dismissed his claim of racial
discrimination, it found that the Club had not given a valid reason for the
exclusion, nor was he informed of the decision beforehand, making the
process arbitrary and unjust.
"The petitioner was not given the reason for
being denied entry to the club before the incident of August 9, 2024, making it
unclear when the decision to exclude him was made," Mwita said.
Kipkorir told the court that he had accessed the club
for over two decades as a guest of members and clients and had never faced any
restrictions.
In his petition, the lawyer argued that the refusal
not only embarrassed him but also interfered with his professional engagements.
He claimed the club’s behaviour reflected
“colonial-era discrimination” and accused it of operating “like a colonial
relic in modern-day Kenya.
Muthaiga Country Club, however, defended its actions,
saying Kipkorir had been barred from entry after making a negative social media
comment about one of its chefs.
The club’s chairperson told the court that the
decision had been communicated to the member who had invited him in advance.
