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Ex-Telkom staff want board probed over retirement cash

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National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi. Retrenched Telkom Kenya employees’ petition will be tabled in the House on Tuesday afternoon. PHOTO | FILE

Former employees of Telkom Kenya want Parliament to investigate the board of the telco over failure to pay compensation to 997 retrenched staff in 2006.

In a petition filed in the National Assembly dated April 24, the former employees are also seeking Parliament’s intervention to have lawyer Mohamed Nyaoga and company secretary Ngana Ivy answer to claims of conflict of interest, misconduct and an attempt to defraud petitioners through misrepresentation.

The petitioners claim that the respondents fraudulently, through misrepresentation, led them into abandoning a claim of Sh3.2 billion severance pay and settle for an out-of-court sum of Sh1.4 billion as compensation following the retrenchment.

“The settlement was initiated by Telkom Kenya and resulted in loss of close to Sh2 billion which the petitioners agreed to forfeit on assumption that Telkom Kenya truly intended to settle the matter immediately,” states the petition which will be tabled in the House on Tuesday afternoon.

The Constitution requires Speaker Justin Muturi to promptly relay any petition from members of the public to MPs.

The petitioners state that it later occurred to them that the settlement deal was a fraud and outright misrepresentation by the board, directors and advocates.

“There is also a case of conflict of interest wherein Mr Mohammed Nyaoga, who is a member of the board of Telkom Kenya and also an advocate, was instructed to act on the matter on behalf of Telkom and personally steered the negotiations leading to the settlement deed,” the petitioners, led by John Ochanda, say.

READ: Ex-Telkom workers demand Sh250m severance pay

They want the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee chaired by Ainabkoi MP Samuel Chepkonga, a former Communications Commission of Kenya chief executive officer, to summon 12 individuals among them suspended Investment Secretary Esther Koimett and former KenGen managing director Eddy Njoroge.

Mr Njoroge is the chairman of Telkom Kenya’s board of directors. The former employees also want Vincent Lobry, Telkom Kenya chief executive, board members Daniel Delestre, Gerald Ries, Oliver Froisat and Ashif Kassam to appear before MPs over the settlement of retrenched staff’s dues.

The petitioners also want Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich summoned by virtue of being the holder of the 30 per cent government shares in Telkom Kenya after dilution of the shareholding from 49 per cent in favour of France Telkom on December 31, 2007.

Interrogated by MPs

Attorney General Githu Muigai, the principal adviser of the government, is also listed among those to be interrogated by MPs.

The petitioners have also enjoined Telkom Kenya as respondents.

They also want the House to investigate claims that the telco is about to collapse and that France Telkom, which owns 70 per cent of the company, is in the process of being sold to third parties.

They want the House to take measures to protect the government’s interests in the firm and ensure that it fulfils its obligations to the petitioners.