KMC staff sacked over Seychelles president visit awarded Sh2.6m

The Labour Court has awarded a manager at the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC), who was sacked for presenting weak animals for slaughter during a visit by Seychelles President Danny Faure, Sh2.6 million in compensation.

Justice Nzioki wa Makau awarded Sylvester Kyengo the amount following a finding that his sacking was unlawful.

On April 6, 2017, Mr Kyengo was served with a “show cause” letter accusing him of gross misconduct, namely, failing to perform his responsibilities adequately as the livestock manager and a member of the planning committee on the visit by the President of Seychelles to the facility on April 4, 2017.

The letter indicated that he presented weak animals for slaughter during the visit by the dignitary. Mr Kyengo said although the Seychelles President visited during a drought, he chose the best animals and that the chief grader verified the animals to be excellent on the eve of the visit.

On its part, KMC said the sacking of the claimant was procedural because he was a member of the planning committee for the botched visit by the president of Seychelles, which aimed at entering a bilateral agreement on the trade in livestock products.

But the court disagreed with the agency.

“It follows therefore that the evidence by the claimant that he was not to blame for the slaughtering of animals during the presidential visit has not been rebutted.

Quality livestock

“Likewise, his evidence that he provided good quality livestock for the presidential visit and that the chief grader verified the same on the eve of the visit has also not been rebutted,” said Justice Makau in his ruling.

Mr Kyengo joined the KMC in 2016 as livestock manager and his duties were to procure clean and healthy livestock from farmers and identify sources of the animals, among other duties.

He said there was a different department dealing with production and marketing.

He testified that the “show-cause” letter accused him of failure to procure the right animals for slaughter during the visit by the president of Seychelles to the KMC facility.

Mr Kyengo told court he was invited for a disciplinary hearing before the board on September 21, 2017, but that the hearing was not fair because he was not in good terms with both the chairman and the managing commissioner.