- High Court dismissed an appeal by three former Murang’a Farmers Cooperative Union officials over a Ksh7 million dispute.
- The court upheld the magistrate’s finding that the appellants failed to comply with court conditions.
- The case stems from the alleged unauthorised handling of Ksh7 million from the sale of company land.
The High Court has dismissed an appeal lodged by three former officials of the Murang’a Farmers Cooperative Union, who claimed their right to a hearing had been infringed by a lower court.
High Court Judge Stephen Mbungi upheld a decision by the Murang’a Chief Magistrate’s Court over Ksh7 million deposited in a Union Bank Section (UBS) account at the Thika branch, part of the proceeds from the sale of a 20-acre parcel of land owned by Mugumo ini Farmers’ Company Limited in Makuyu.
The judge dismissed the appeal lodged by the trio , which followed a magistrate’s court judgement outlining that the appellants had disobeyed conditions imposed during the proceedings.
“The learned trial magistrate properly exercised her discretion in dismissing the application dated January 25, 2023. No basis had been laid before this court for interfering with that exercise of discretion,” Mbungi said in a virtual ruling.
He added that after carefully reviewing the entire record, he was satisfied that the appellants were accorded a fair trial and adequate opportunity to participate in the proceedings before the subordinate court.
“The magistrate cannot be faulted for declining to reinstate the conditional orders after the appellants failed to comply with the terms upon which those orders had been granted,” the judge said.
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Case background
The lower court’s ruling had established that the land company sold the parcels of land to a buyer under a sale agreement dated July 20, 2015, for Ksh18 million, with a deposit of Ksh7 million made at the time. The land, however, did not get into the possession of the company.
The respondents claimed the Ksh7 million, part of the purchase price, had been deposited in an open account at the UBS without authority or a board resolution before it was remitted to the company office in Gatanga.
“The overwhelming and uncontroverted evidence of the plaintiff [is] that the defendants Ngone and others did sell the land when they served as directors of the company, [and] opened the bank account without approval by the members. The same did not get to the plaintiffs to date, thus defrauding the company of the said money,” the magistrate ruled.
The three later lodged an application seeking to set aside the judgement and be allowed to defend the suit. A favourable ruling was issued on December 21, 2022, on condition that they pay throw-away costs of Ksh30,000 before the next hearing date.
The court noted that on January 18, 2023, the appellants were served with a hearing notice but neither complied with the condition requiring payment of the throw-away costs nor attended court on the scheduled hearing date.
“No satisfactory explanation was offered as to why no effort was made thereafter to ascertain the outcome of the ruling, or the directions that had been issued by the court, despite the claims that internet connectivity was a challenge,” the judge ruled.
By Boniface Gikandi
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