An embattled finance executive has scored a double victory, winning back his job and a Sh36 million compensation for unfair dismissal for rejecting illegal orders by a chief executive.

In a ruling that affirms employee rights and shines a spotlight on governance, ethics, and integrity at the workplace, Justice Byram Ongaya of the Employment and Labour Relations Court said Shem Gichimu was right to reject an illegal directive by the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) chief executive Charles Ringera to adjust the salary of a senior officer at the State agency. 

“While making that award the court upholds the claimant’s submission that a public body such as the respondent by its agents or employees must not indulge in facilitating, aiding, and abetting grant corruption and if such indulgence appears to take place and the public body fails to prove that it did not deliberately fail to discharge its responsibilities according to its mandate, then the victim of the public body must be protected and adequately compensated,” said the judge.

Mr Gichimu was employed as the head of finance at Helb on June 4, 2007, until September 27, 2019, when his contract was suddenly terminated, triggering a court fight that revealed an acrimonious fight between Mr Gichimu and Mr Ringera over a directive to raise the basic salary of then chief operations officer Geoffrey Monari — presently chief executive at Universities Fund.

Court filings show that Mr Gichimu’s woes began after finance manager Kerin Lidoroh, on March 25, 2019, brought to his attention a discrepancy in Helb’s payroll for that month.