The Nairobi Hospital board members are now free to meet after the Court of Appeal lifted a freeze that had been issued by a judge in July.
A bench of three judges of the appellate court lifted the freeze on September 17, 2025, pending the hearing and determination of an application filed by the hospital and three senior officials including the chief executive officer Mr Felix Osano.
Justices Patrick Kiage, Jamila Mohammed and Weldon Korir further suspended contempt proceedings against Mr Osano, the chairperson Dr Barcley Onyambu and company secretary Gilbert Nyamweya, which were pending before High Court Judge Nixon Sifuna.
“We now direct that a temporary order be and is hereby issued in terms of prayer 3 of the motion staying the orders issued by the High Court ... and any further proceedings therein pending delivery of the ruling,” said the judges.
The appellate court issued the orders after the hospital argued that order stopping all board meetings had disrupted the hospital’s functioning thereby crippling the institution’s governance and operational capability.
Justice Sifuna issued the order on July 3 restraining the board from convening any meetings.
The court heard that strategic decisions are made through the hospital’s board of management.
“The board of management plays a critical role in making urgent administrative and operational decisions necessary for the continued functioning of the applicant,” Mr Samson Mbuthia Kinyanjui, the vice chairman said in the application.
He said the board could not convene and execute key resolutions, hence the activities of the hospital were at risk of being adversely affected as the chief executive officer has a spending limit of only Sh5 million without the board.
Justice Sifuna had found Dr Onyambu, Mr Osano and Mr Nyamweya guilty of contempt of court after attending a board meeting in Naivasha on July 3 and 4.
A splinter group had instigated a boardroom coup in a special meeting held on June 30 and picked University of Nairobi lecturer Herman Manyora as the chairperson of the board.
Dr Onyambu had submitted that the board of directors and staff members were already in Naivasha, when they were served with the court order, stopping the retreat.
He also said the court summoned them to appear in court physically on July 17, for punishment without giving them an opportunity to be heard, as if they had already been convicted.
In the plea, the trio said it will unjustifiably suffer grave prejudice, including paralysis of operations, if the contempt proceedings were to proceed.
The officials further said the High Court judge imposed advocates and a suit on them, after rejecting an application by their lawyer seeking to withdraw the matter.
They also faulted the judge for ruling that the case could be sustained without a finding of authority to institute the same.
“The impugned proceedings before the superior court are ongoing notwithstanding that the issue of representation of the plaintiffs is highly contested,” the application stated.
While directing the officials to appear before him for contempt of court, Justice Sifuna rejected an application to disqualify himself from hearing the case.
