Grace Akinyi Ahawo v Kenya Airports Authority [2020] KEELRC 562 (KLR)
The bottom line
#The Employment Court dismissed a worker's bid to reopen its judgment on payments owed, confirming that appeals, not repeated reviews, are the remedy for disagreeing with a ruling.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the motion met the review test under Rule 33(1) of the ELRC (Procedure) Rules, 2016
It did not; no newly discovered matter of evidence which could not with due diligence have been discovered was disclosed, and the addition of interest on the decretal sum was not a discovery
The Court accepted the Respondent's contention that the motion disclosed no newly discovered evidence, that the addition of interest could not amount to a discovery, and that the item ought to have been raised in the earlier applications. The Court further noted this was not the first review or execution application by the Claimant, and that revisiting questions already addressed failed the review threshold.
Whether an alleged error in the Court's Ruling No. 4 of 31 January 2020 could be corrected on review
No; an alleged mistake in a ruling should be pursued on appeal absent an apparent error on the face of the record
The Court held that if it erred in Ruling No. 4 delivered on 31 January 2020, the proper avenue was appellate jurisdiction, since review requires an apparent error on the face of the record, which the Claimant had not demonstrated. The Claimant's dissatisfaction with the quantification of the decretal sum therefore could not be remedied through successive review applications.
Legal principles established
#- A party aggrieved by an interlocutory ruling allegedly made in error must pursue appellate jurisdiction rather than review, unless an apparent error on the face of the record is demonstrated
- Interest on a decretal sum not raised in earlier applications cannot constitute newly discovered matter entitling a party to review
Court orders
#- 1.The motion dated 27 February 2020 is dismissed with costs to the Respondent
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Employment and Labour Relations Court (Procedure) Rules, 2016, Rule 33(1) (review jurisdiction)
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Grace Akinyi Ahawo v Kenya Airports Authority [2020] KEELRC 562 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2020). Cause No. 985 of 2014. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2020/562/eng@2020-08-06
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.