Govt to pay former Coffee Marketing Board staff sh29b

Jan 12, 2016

The claimants petitioned the court for an Order of Mandamus, after government failed to honour the Industrial Court ruling which awarded them the sh29b

Government and the Ministry of Finance are set to part with over sh29b as terminal benefit payment to the former employees of the Coffee Marketing Board.

The employees are the 1568 non-unionized workers who were retrenched between 1968 and 1998 following the privatization of the Board.

On Monday, Justice Stephen Musota of the High Court ordered Government and the Secretary to the Treasury, Keith Muhakanizi to pay the money following a petition filed by three of the claimants. They are Basiima Kabonesa, Solome Adumo and James Musoke.

The trio petitioned the court for an Order of Mandamus, after government failed to honour the Industrial Court ruling which awarded them the sh29b.

In its ruling last year, the Industrial Court issued a certificate of order against Government for payment of sh10b as special damages following the petition lodged by the claimants.

The same court also ordered that each claimant be paid sh10m as general damages and sh1b was to be paid to all of them as aggravated damages at an interest rate of 16% from date of judgment till payment in full.

However, the government neglected to pay, forcing the claimants to seek for an Order of Mandamus, which the judge granted.

Mandamus is a judicial remedy in the form of an order from a superior court, to any government subordinate court, corporation, or public authority to do (or forbear from doing) some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do (or refrain from doing) in the nature of public duty.

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