EACC staff obtains court order to stop disciplinary action against her
A legal officer at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has obtained court order from the Employment and Labour Relations Court to stop employer from taking disciplinary action against her.
This is after Dmaris Ndinda moved to court to stop her employer from proceeding with a disciplinary process against her over alleged gross misconduct.
Ndinda was subjected to internal disciplinary process after she allegedly colluded with suspected fraudsters in a case where the commission has been fighting to recover Machakos prison land allegedly grabbed by private investors.
Through her lawyers Muma and Kanjama Advocates, Ndinda described the actions by EACC as unconstitutional on grounds that they are impeding on her rights and mechanisms used by EACC in handling her case are unprocedural.
“Under Article 19, of the Constitution, fundamental rights and freedoms belong to an individual and are not granted by the state. In addition, Article 19 provides that the purpose of recognising and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms is to preserve the dignity of individuals and to promote social justice a realization of potential of all individuals,” she argues in the court documents.
Ndinda says she was not accorded fair hearing and to make representation by the committee, saying every person has the right to administrative action which is expeditious, efficient, lawful and reasonable and procedurally fair.
The matter has now landed in court and will be heard on February 28.
Ndinda was accused by her employer of failing to file defense against counterclaims exposing the EACC to a possible loss of Sh36 million.
“It was during her handling of this case that she is said to have entered into a consent allowing parties to amend pleadings without authority of her supervisor. She also did not oppose an application to introduce three additional defendants for which the Commission had not conducted investigations as well as failing to file a response to amended defenses and counterclaims thereby exposing the Commission to a judgment in default of defense to Sh36 million,” EACC says in its defense in the case.
In a case filed in 2018 by the commission, Ndinda had an altercation with her supervisor over promotion, which according to the commission was affected by a negative report based on how she had handled the Machakos Prison land case.
According to EACC, Ndinda was entrusted to help the agency pursue the case but neglected to defend and safeguard EACC interests in handling a case by unilaterally recording a consent in court allowing parties to amend pleadings and consenting to three parties with no registrable interest being joined in the suit.
Her conduct is reported to have affected her promotion after it is captured in her appraisal.
However, she lodged a formal complaint alleging alteration of the appraisal form for 2019-20 financial year without her knowledge and involvement.
But an internal investigation established that Ndinda had also discussed the alleged alteration of her appraisal form in a WhatsApp group for EACC lawyers and made disparaging remarks against her supervisor.
She appeared before the internal investigation team on two occasions but despite cooperating during the first interview, she declined to be interviewed on how she had handled the Machakos Prison land matters by refusing to answer questions.
EACC initiated a special investigation into the issues raised and the investigations entailed documents analysis and interviews following which it was established that the allegation of alteration of her appraisal form was untrue.
Court records show she was issued with a notice to show cause on October 8, 2021 and she responded on October 25 but supervisors were dissatisfied with her response and recommended the matter be heard by the Commission’s Staff Disciplinary and Conflict Resolution Committee.
