Henry Owino Obonyo & another v Kenya Airways Limited [2020] KEELRC 593 (KLR)

The Applicant alleged it discovered new evidence that the 2nd Claimant had been employed by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and Jubba Airways after termination. However, the 2nd Claimant had testified at trial that he had attempted to obtain alternative employment with two organisations and was terminated once his prior termination by the Applicant was discovered. The judgment was therefore made with full knowledge of this information, and nothing new had been placed before the Court to warrant review.

The court acknowledged that discovery of new and important matter is a recognised ground for review under the ELRC (Procedure) Rules 2016. The burden, however, rests on the Applicant to show that the judgment was reached only because the evidence was unavailable at trial. Since the information about the 2nd Claimant's subsequent short-term engagements was adduced at trial, that burden was not discharged and the application failed.