By The Weekly Vision Team
The immediate former Nairobi City County Acting Secretary, Jirus Musumba, has lost a case he had filed against the Kenya Methodist University (KEMU) seeking payment of Ksh. 1.7 million as a part-time lecturer. In a judgment dated October 30, 2023, by Judge Maryam Ongaya of the Employment and Labour Relations Court, the judge dismissed Mr. Musumba’s claim against the university’s management.
The judgment reads, “The Court finds that the material on record shows that the claimant alleges he was not paid for a long period during which the amount claimed accumulated. In conclusion, the claimant’s suit is hereby dismissed”. Mr Musumba filed the memorandum of claim on February 25, 2019, through Weda & Company Advocates, stating that he was employed by the Kenya Methodist University from February 28, 2004, to 2016, as a part-time lecturer at approximately Ksh. 90,000.00 for each course unit taught. His case is that he taught 13 units, but the respondent failed to pay his accrued dues. He prayed for a declaration of breach of contract, payment of the accrued dues, damages for breach of contract, plus costs and interest.
The KEMU management, in a quick rejoinder, pleaded that Mr. Musumba had paid all the dues and prayed that the suit be dismissed with costs. The Court finds that the material on record shows that the claimant alleges he was not paid for a long period during which the amount claimed accumulated.
It appears to the Court that, in the absence of any other material, the injury or breach was continuing as per the claimant’s evidence, so that the suit was time-barred as submitted for the respondent. The suit is liable to be dismissed.
The judgment reads “The Court has considered all circumstances of the case and returns that each party bears its own costs, especially that the preliminary objection was not promptly pleaded and invoked at the earliest possible time in the proceedings so as to mitigate the costs”.
