Managing Director of the Kenya Tea Packers (KETEPA) Albert Otochi has suffered a blow after the court dismissed his application seeking compensation for alleged breach of his rights.
Otochi had moved to the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) before Judge Byram Ongaya suing Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) and KETEPA, claiming that they had contravened and violated the constitution.
In his affidavit filed in August 2023, Otochi also claimed that the firms had violated his rights when they withdrew his official vehicle and disconnected his internet and mobile connectivity.
He said the perks were guaranteed to him by his employment by the respondents.
The withdrawal, he told the court, happened on December 22, 2022, after he proceeded on a 60-day leave.
This was shortly after the court on December 15, 2022, ordered KTDA to reinstate Otochi, who had been suspended, to his position.
In the earlier case, which relates to the current, Otochi had moved to court in September after being served with a show-cause notice for allegedly interacting with some directors of KTDA.
He told the court that his issues began on June 25, 2021, when he was sent on a 90-day compulsory leave for no justifiable cause.
Three days later, KTDA issued a circular to appoint a replacement for Otochi in full knowledge that he was not under any investigation and had not committed any wrongdoing to warrant the same.
Upon return in September 2021, Otochi was sent on another leave, termed as an 18-day annual leave.
In November 2021, he was sent on another "unwarranted" 30-day leave, which he told the court was a scheme "purely cultivated and instigated with the sole intention of keeping him out of the office to allow the respondents to replace him in his position".
Otochi was sent on yet another leave in January 2022 on allegations of an ongoing forensic audit.
Eight months later in a letter dated September 28, 2022, he was suspended.
This is when Otochi filed a suit at the ELRC and on December 15, 2022, Judge B O Manani directed the KTDA to reinstate him and his full salary, which had been cut to half after his suspension.
He alleged that after that, he was denied the aforementioned perks, and thus moved to the current court.
Opposing the petition, KTDA's Group Company Secretary Mathews Odero said the same sought the same orders as those in the earlier case and urged the court not to entertain it.
Odero warned that entertaining the petition would amount to a violation of the doctrine of constitutional avoidance, as the earlier court had rendered its judgement.
In his decision, Judge Ongaya agreed with KTDA that Otochi was barred by res judicata -the principle that a cause of action may not be relitigated once it has been judged on merit.
He noted that the issues raised had been dealt with in the earlier suit.
"To the consent that there are no events after that consent constituting a new course of action, the court returns that the petition is so barred," the judge ruled.
"The petitioner (Otochi) seeks to unjustly enrich himself by filing the instant petition."
The judge added that since the disputes had been resolved, the new suit was an abuse of court process.
"In conclusion, the judgement is hereby entered for the respondents for dismissal of the petition with orders that the petitioner pays the respondents' costs of the petition," Judge Ongaya's decision dated December 7, reads.