Former Jamii Bora Bank executive director Minnie Mbue is now Sh38 million richer after the Court of Appeal rejected a request by the microfinance to suspend a judgment in which she was awarded the amount as compensation for unfair sacking.
The lender, which is now known as Kingdom Bank after its acquisition by the Co-operative Bank, wanted Ms Mbue to be barred from demanding the money pending determination of its request to challenge the award at the Supreme Court.
But the three-judge bench said nothing in the bank’s case constitute matters of public interest to warrant a move to the Supreme Court.
“We say so because firstly, the issue in dispute was the terminal benefits payable to Ms Mbue following her termination. The answer to the dispute lay with the terms of her contract of employment,” ruled the bench comprising justices Asike Makhandia, Jamilla Mohammed and Sankale ole Kantai.
The Court of Appeal awarded Ms Mbue Sh38,666,666 in 2017.
The court increased the award from the initial amount of Sh15 million given by the Employment and Labour Relations Court in 2013.
She joined Jamii Bora in March 2010. Before that she was employed by the Central Bank of Kenya), where she was a manager in Bank Supervision Division.
While working at the Central Bank, Ms Mbue was involved in the merger of City Finance Bank and Jamii Bora Micro-Finance to form Jamii Bora Bank.
She said Jamii Bora Bank later requested her to join them as the executive director. But in 2011 the bank’s board terminated her contract of employment to enable it to undertake major structural changes.
