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Defence PS faces civil jail for failing to pay injured ex-soldier Sh23m

Defence Principal Secretary Patrick Mariru during a meeting at the Defence Headquarters in Nairobi on February 28, 2024. (Photo: X/ KDF)

By Joseph Ndunda | 12 Mar 2024

Richard Ochanda, who served in the Kenya Army, suffered severe neck injuries in 1989, which rendered him paraplegic and was dismissed six years later, on April 13, 1995.

Defence Principal Secretary Patrick Mariru could be placed in civil jail for contempt of court after failing to pay Sh23 million to a former soldier whose services were terminated after he suffered terminal injuries at work.

Richard Ochanda, who served in the Kenya Army, suffered severe neck injuries in 1989, which rendered him paraplegic and was dismissed six years later, on April 13, 1995. He sued the government in 1996 and won the case on November 14, 2011, after 15 years of proceedings.

The government, however, declined to pay him the Sh22,916,828.34 served upon the Ministry of Defence two weeks later. It appealed against the order issued by now-retired Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal but lost.

The government lodged a second appeal before justices Imaana Laibuta, Abida Ali Aroni, and John Mativo but also lost.

The judges faulted the government, particularly the PS, for filing an illegal appeal because it was similar to the one decided earlier.

"By mounting this appeal citing the same grounds that were raised, considered, and determined by this court in the previous appeal between the same parties involving the same subject matters, the appellants are ingenuously indirectly inviting this court to sit on an appeal on its own decision. We decline the invitation to do so," the judges stated in a unanimous decision.

"For the above-stated reasons, we dismiss this appeal. Since the respondent (Ochanda) did not file any submissions or attend the hearing, we make no orders as to costs."

The decree in question has remained unenforced for more than 20 years now.

The judges noted that for all these years, the government has known the existence of the judgment and actively participated in judicial review proceedings for contempt of court following their initiation.

"Court orders are never issued in vain. They are issued for compliance, however idiotic, so that the person who considers the order idiotic is at liberty to challenge it," they stated.

"The respondent (PS) has not challenged the judicial review order of mandamus issued in this matter by Honourable Korir J. The application for contempt of court was dismissed, but the Court of Appeal handed the applicant a lifeline. It is therefore disturbing that the respondent is raising the same technicalities as he did prior to the Court of Appeal's decision and which technicalities have the effect of reviewing the Court of Appeal decision."

The three judges ordered Mariru to appear before Justice Roselyne Amburili for sentencing. Parties will contact the court for the setting of a date.