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ELRCOtherPetition No. 13 of 2020 (Kakamega)· [2021] KEELRC 1678 (KLR)

Christine Songa v County Executive Committee Member Finance, County Government of Kakamega & 2 others; Local Authorities Provident Fund (Lapfund) & another (Interested Parties) [2021] KEELRC 1678 (KLR)

Employment and Labour Relations Court
26 May 2021
RSRadido Stephen
1,222 words in judgment
View original judgmentRead on Kenya Law Watch case
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·~5 min to read original · ~4 min brief

The bottom line

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A Kakamega court declined to decide a pension dispute because nearly identical cases are already pending in Nairobi, sending the matter there instead.

What this practically means

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Executive summary

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The Petitioner, the Kakamega Branch Secretary of the Kenya Government Workers Union, challenged the decision of the County Government of Kakamega, from around November 2019, to remit her and her co-workers' pension contributions to the County Governments Retirement Scheme without their consent, following the enactment of the County Governments Retirement Scheme Act, No. 21 of 2019, which repealed the Lapfund and Laptrust instruments and transferred their funds to the new Scheme. She sought declarations that the remittances breached Articles 27, 41, 43(1)(d) & (e), 47, 50 and 232, mandatory orders to stop the remittances and redirect them to the Local Authorities Pension Trust Fund pending transition, and an order compelling compliance with sections 52 and 54 to 57 of the Act. The 1st and 2nd Respondents filed a notice of preliminary objection and a stay application pending Nairobi Petition No. 213 of 2019 (Okiya Omtatah Okoiti), and two further Nairobi petitions (Nos. 222 and 230 of 2019) raised similar challenges to the Act. After considering submissions, the Court held that any finding would necessarily require determining the validity of sections 53 to 56 of the Act, already under consideration in the Nairobi petitions, and directed that the Petition be placed before the Principal Judge for further directions. No costs order was made.

Key legal issues

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Whether the Court could determine the Petition without ruling on the validity of section 55 of the County Governments Retirement Scheme Act

Holding

No; the Petitioner's challenge necessarily implicated the validity of sections 53, 54, 55 and 56 of the Act, which were already under consideration in earlier Nairobi Petitions

Reasoning

The Court found that the County Government of Kakamega acted on a statutory provision, and it was debatable whether the Petitioner's consent was required. Any finding would require delving into the validity of the section. Since three Nairobi petitions (Nos. 213, 222 and 230 of 2019) already raised the validity of the Act, the Court referred the matter for directions to avoid conflicting findings.

p. 3

Legal principles established

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  • Where petitions raising the same question of validity of a statute are pending in another court, a later petition should be heard by the court seized of the earlier petitions to avoid conflicting findings

Court orders

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  1. 1.The Petition be placed before the Principal Judge for further directions
Jurisdiction invoked
Not expressly stated; the Court exercised its first-instance jurisdiction under the Employment and Labour Relations Court Act and Article 162(2) of the Constitution (implied, not quoted)

Key timeline

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Practical implications

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Frequently asked questions

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Cite this brief

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Cite this brief

Caselaw, "Christine Songa v County Executive Committee Member Finance, County Government of Kakamega & 2 others; Local Authorities Provident Fund (Lapfund) & another (Interested Parties) [2021] KEELRC 1678 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2021). Petition No. 13 of 2020 (Kakamega). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2021/1678/eng@2021-05-26

Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.