Abdinoor Sheikh Takoy v Kenya National Highways Authority [2022] KEELRC 705 (KLR)

The identity card produced at recruitment in 1979 showed 1961, as did the employment application form. The Petitioner's new identity card showing 1965 was issued on 18th June 2020, after the retirement notification, and his own letter explained it was changed merely to conform with a birth certificate obtained in 1999. He never sought variation of his particulars throughout employment. The Erastus Githinji decision was distinguishable because there the birth certificate only clarified the day, not the year.

The Petitioner alleged violation of the right to life, social and economic rights and fair administrative action. The court found the Respondent acted within its rights in using the declared date of birth, given the employee's silence over his long service and the fact that the PSC circular of 19th November 2020 misread the Githinji judgment. The Petitioner failed to prove the recorded date of birth, voluntarily supplied by him, was not his actual date of birth.

In Githinji the employment records showed only the year 1949, and the birth certificate merely specified the actual day within the same year. Here the birth certificate changed the year itself, from 1961 to 1965, without explanation. The circular dated 19th November 2020, which directed that the date of birth for public officers is that on the certificate of birth, was in the court's view a misreading of the judgment.