Do not help banks to break the law, Supreme Court told
Mr Habil Olaka, the CEO of the Kenya Bankers Association. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Rose Wanjiru says the Kenya Bankers Association is trying to use the top court to free itself from a situation its own members placed themselves in.
She has asked the court to throw out KBA’s application and allow her pending suit to continue in the High Court.
A businesswoman has told the Supreme Court that allowing an application by the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) to defeat a class action suit against its members could aid the lenders in breaking the law.
Rose Florence Wanjiru, who has sued all banks in Kenya through KBA, says the lobby is trying to use the top court to free itself from a situation its own members placed themselves in.
She has asked the court to throw out KBA’s application and allow her pending suit to continue in the High Court.
Ms Wanjiru says lenders have been violating the Banking Act of 1989, which stops them from increasing interest rates without approval from the Finance minister. But KBA has challenged her decision to sue all banks through the lobby’s then executive director, John Wanyela.
KBA says in its application that Ms Wanjiru failed to seek the permission of the court before suing the lobby.
Ms Wanjiru’s petition was dismissed in 2003 on a technicality but it was reinstated in October 2013 when the Court of Appeals ruled that the High Court erred in its decision to dismiss it.
Ms Wanjiru says KBA filed the objection in hindsight, and the Supreme Court should allow her suit to continue.
“No one is entitled to the aid of a court of equity when that aid has become necessary through his or her own fault. A court of equity will not grant relief from a self-created hardship.
The application must of necessity be dismissed so that all parties can have their day in court for the determination of whether or not KBA, Standard Charted and Central Bank violated section 44 of the Banking Act,” she says.
She further argues that the lobby is trying to use the Supreme Court to escape duties delegated to it by the KBA constitution. She now wants all banks compelled to refund past and present clients who have been made to pay charges arising from their alleged banking law violations.
The KBA went to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal dismissed its application to throw out the class action in October 2013.
Ms Wanjiru says that KBA is bringing up new issues by questioning whether Mr Wanyela could be sued on behalf of all banks in Kenya. She adds that the matter raised by KBA is not one of general public importance, hence the Supreme Court cannot hear it.
The Supreme Court will deliver a ruling on notice.
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