Relief for LSK staff as two-month pay freeze ends

 

A go-slow by staff at the Law Society of Kenya secretariat over delayed salaries has been ended after the High Court directed the Standard Chartered Bank to process the payment. 

Appearing in court on Tuesday, LSK vice president Carolyne Kamende Daudi was directed to go to Standard Chartered Bank and sign the cheques releasing two months salaries to the staff, who had not been paid since November last year.

The bank’s lawyers asked for a copy of the staff payroll, a cheque signed by Ms Kamende and chief executive officer Mercy Wambua and a letter signed by the duo, authorising the bank to pay the salaries.  The High Court had last month authorised Ms Kamende and Ms Wambua, as signatories to the bank accounts, to withdraw Sh14 million for the salaries and a further Sh3.5 million for the elections. But the move was derailed after council members, who had been suspended in a special general meeting last month, got a temporary order and later staged a coup by suspending Mr Havi.

The stand-off between the opposing groups was threatening to affect the jobs of lawyers across the country who are required to renew their practicing certificates in the first quarter of the year.

Lawyers seeking to apply for jobs in banks and tenders are also required to apply for certificates of good standing, while new lawyers or those seeking to start new firms have to obtain letters of no objection, all of which were in jeopardy due to the go-slow.

LSK president Nelson Havi said the problem could be solved by allowing Ms Wambua and Ms Kamende to upload the salaries of staff and process their pay. Mr Havi also rejected mediation as a way of ending the stand-off, saying they had tried it and failed. Further, he said Mr John Ohaga, who has been proposed by lawyer Levi Munyeri, allegedly acts for Ms Wambua in one of the cases pending in court. 

Secretariat staff last week wrote to Ms Kamende, as the chairperson of finance and budget committee, complaining over their delayed salaries.

“We note that there has been no direct communication whatsoever from the staff, budget and finance committee, the council or the CEO on why we continue to be subjected to untold pain and suffering,” the letter by the 37 employees reads.

COURTESY OF THE DAILY NATION