A store clerk who was sacked by Mukumu Girls High School for allegedly accepting contaminated cereals that claimed the lives of three students and a teacher has sued the school for wrongful dismissal.
Chrisantus Mulimi, who was sacked on June 28, 2023, was employed by the school as a store clerk on October 7, 2017.
He has named school principal Jane Mmbone as the respondent in her capacity as the secretary to the school board of management.
He wants the court to make a declaration that his purported sacking by the school was unprocedural, arbitrary, punitive and unlawful.
In papers filed at the Kakamega chief magistrate’s court on Monday, Mulimi wants the court to issue an order compelling the school to reinstate him and award him damages against the institution for unlawful sacking and subjecting him to unwarranted pain and anguish.
In the alternative, Mulimi wants the court to issue an order compelling the school to pay him his terminal and other benefits that may have accrued up to the date of his dismissal.
Mulimi said in his memorandum of the claim that he received a show cause letter from the school management on June 2, based on falsehoods and innuendos as an attempt by the school to cover up a matter that was already in the public domain.
“The termination was initiated and effected unlawfully, arbitrary and punitive without following the required procedures,” Mulimi said.
“The respondents’ unlawful actions to terminate my employment was actuated by malice and amounts to victimisation and unfair labour practice that has exposed him to career stress, mental strain and anguish, embarrassment, financial loss and damages,” he said.
In the show-cause letter filed in court, the school accused Mulimi of insubordination, negligence of duty, highhandedness and fraud.
“On April 24, 2023, being a member and secretary to the tender evaluation committee you failed to work with the inspection and tender acceptance committee to ensure that the cereals supplied to the school were of the recommended quality. This led to a loss to the school when the cereals were condemned and destroyed,” the letter reads.
“Your indecisiveness and inability to perform your designated duties had led to acceptance of substandard goods in the stores. This had led to the medical and health concerns experienced at the school."
The letter said that Mulimi admitted in his written submission to the directorate of quality assurance dated May 11, 2023, that the food he received in the stores was unfit for human consumption yet he issued a certificate of acceptance confirming that the food was of approved standards.
