A case in which a water firm managing director is challenging termination of his employment will proceed to full hearing on October 17 this year.
In the case, former Nakuru Water and Sanitation Services Company (Nawassco) director John Cheruiyot has moved to the industrial court sitting in Nakuru seeking compensation of Sh2.9 million in what he terms as unlawful termination of his services.
Cheruiyot, who was retired due to alleged gross misconduct that would see the company lose Sh20 million, has denied misappropriating funds, maintaining that the board of directors which deliberated his dismissal was not properly constituted and lacked quorum to make the decision.
He wants the court to compel the water firm to pay him damages for both wrongful dismissal and defamation, arguing that the board published on a local daily newspaper, a defamatory public notice that he was no longer an employee of Nawassco and was not authorised to transact any business on behalf of the water company.
“The public notice injured my reputation and portrayed me as a thief who had misappropriated company finances,” Cheruiyot told the court.
During the previous hearing, Cheruiyot, while denying possible losses in the company, condemned his termination, saying it was ill-intended and a mere witch-hunt.
A company director, Geoffrey Asanyo, told the court in a previous hearing that the firm’s operations had been disrupted as a result of frequent boardroom wrangles and urged the court to dismiss forthwith the former managing director’s application to allow the water company perform its duties.