The Industrial Relations Court has awarded Christopher Makileni, former Principal Secretary for the Local Government K18 Million from the initial K923 Million he was demanding for unfair labour practices.
Initially, the Industrial Relations Court (IRC) had ordered government to pay the Makileni K754 million after he sued the Attorney General and Office of the President and alleged political victimization.
The court, by consent order between Christopher Makileni and the Attorney General (AG), entered on August 2020, ordered government to pay him K754 835 824.14 in pension, loss of use of motor vehicle, fuel and salary before tax.
But the OPC through the AG Thabo Chakakaka Nyirenda challenged the consent order that authorized Makileni’s claim of K754 Million and in the process of the legal battle Makileni elevated his claims to K923.8 million.
Giving his ruling on Thursday, Chairperson of the Court Howard Pemba found that the only loss that Makileni suffered is the use of a private motor vehicle since he is still an employee of government.
He also observed that the use of the private vehicle by Makileni was not from 2014 to 2020 because there is a time he took a vehicle from Local Government which he was using.
“Considering that the Applicant has not been rendering any services to the Respondent since 2014, this Court has found that the only loss suffered by the Applicant is one relating to the personal or private use of a motor vehicle. Evidence is profound that this has not been within the whole period of 2014 to 2020. There was time he he took the Local Government vehicle with him to OPC and although it was taken back by Local Government, he used it for some part of his stay at OPC.
“There is also considerable evidence that he was given a motor vehicle (MG 899 AF) in or around 2019 which he enjoyed for some time before it broke down. Later he was also provided with another vehicle (MG 547 AJ) which he also used for some time of his stay at OPC. Evidence is also rife that on several occasions at some unspecified times, the Applicant was still provided with a motor vehicle for personal use whenever he needed it,” ruled Pemba.
“In the view of all these , the court believes that an award of K18, 097,916,70 which represents his loss for one year will be fair and equitable for unfair labour practice,” he ordered.
According to the ruling, the money must be paid within 14 days from the date of the order.
Meanwhile Chakaka Nyirenda has welcomed the ruling.
‘’It’s a huge relief to tax payers because will not pay that money’’. Chakaka said
The ruling means that the AG office has rescued K736.7 million, an amount which would have been part of the payout to Makileni had the AG chose to pay a blind eye to his claim.
In December last year, AG revealed that his office was on a mission to recover K50 billion from dubious claims.
