Unfair employer? Blow to EABL’s grain subsidiary after court awards ex-manager Sh8million for unfair dismissal
Additionally, according to evidence presented in court, East African Maltings Limited was cited for failing to conform to their own EABL disciplinary policy document .
Kenyan-based beer maker, the East African Breweries Limited (EABL)’s grain subsidiary, the East African Maltings Limited, has suffered a major blow after a court awarded a former Operations Manager Sh8million for wrongful dismissal.
In a judgement dated June 4, 2025, Employment and Labour Relations Court Judge Justice Hellen Wasilwa cited East African Maltings Limited for unfairness and unjustified actions ruling that the dismissal of John Kiriga was not based on valid reasons.
The ruling further says reason his sacking was neither based on valid reasons nor was the due process followed after having worked for the company for 27 years.
Additionally, according to evidence presented in court, East African Maltings Limited was cited for failing to conform to their own EABL disciplinary policy document effectively assuming a tag of an unfair employer.
In the suit, East African Maltings Limited was listed as the first respondent while EABL where Jane Karuku serves as the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was listed as the second respondent respectively.
“From my analysis of the evidence above, it is therefore my findings that the dismissal of the claimant was not based on valid reasons and due process was not followed and so it was unfair and unjustified,” Justice Wasilwa ruled.
“Having found as above, I find for the claimant (Kiriga) and I find that he is entitled to compensation for the unfairness meted against him. I therefore award him compensation for the unfair termination and given the gravity of accusations against him which were unfounded and the length of time he had served the respondents and there being a difficulty in possibility of finding an alternative job at his age, I award him nine months’ salary as compensation = 9x Sh919,861.48= Sh8,278.753.32/- less statutory deductions,” the ruling further reads in part.
The court further ordered East African Maltings Limited and EABL PLC to pay costs of the suit plus interest at court rates with effect from the date of the judgement.
Kiriga, then serving in the rank of Operations Manager and earning a monthly basic salary of Sh921,811 was sacked on February 18, 2020 for allegedly breaching the company’s code of conduct by falsifying and misrepresenting stock records, which the company claimed resulted in a loss of over Sh224million.
Kiriga had initially received a Notice to Show Cause letter on December 30, 2019 from East African Maltings Limited.
The ex-manage sued both East African Maltings Limited and its parent company EABL PLC demanding a Sh25million compensation but the East African Maltings and EABL opposed the claim stating that Kiriga had willfully neglected his duties.
Consequently, East African Maltings and EABL engaged Stealth Africa Consulting LLP to conduct extensive investigations which showed that the variances continued even after the Kiriga left.
“He (Stealth Africa Consulting LLP- respondents’ witness) also admitted that only dip reading process could account for estimates and they could not apply when content was at low level,” part of the documents filed in court reads.
Kiriga was initially employed by Kenya Breweries, one of the respondent’s affiliates as a storekeeper in 1993 and rose to the ranks in the respondents’ companies with his last position before termination being Operations Manager of East African Maltings Limited, a role assigned to him and confirmed on October 29, 2010.
At the time of his dismissal, Kiriga was in charge of Lesiolo and Kampala Road sites only and was reporting to the General Manager.
According to documents filed in court, Kiriga told the court that his roles and responsibilities as an Operations Manager were; barley malt production and storage; Supplying raw materials (barley, malt and sorghum) to East African Breweries PLC (‘EABL’) companies which include Kenya Breweries Ltd, Uganda Breweries Ltd, Serengeti Breweries Ltd and other third-party companies; continuous improvements to drive and sustain high product quality, reduce costs, and drive innovations; productions department’s asset care management ensuring maximum utilization and timely maintaining equipment; capital expenditure budgeting for the operations department upgrading, modernizing, automation of the plant to match the ever evolving world; processing and storage at the Kampala Road site and at the Lesiolo grain storage site; and he was in charge of the personnel working in the operations department.
“Indeed, for an employee to be dismissed or terminated there must be valid reason for the same. In the case of the claimant the reasons leading to his dismissal have been explained which show no intentional concealment of stocks. The RW1 was able to explain why some stocks had variances or had to be imputed manually. There is no indication that the claimant willfully altered stocks for a bad motive,” Justice Wasilwa ruled.
EABL PLC is a holding company that manufactures branded beer, spirits, and non-alcoholic beverages and it is owned by Diageo PLC through UDV Kenya Limited whose majority stake is owned by Diageo PLC.
Diageo PLC is a British multinational alcoholic beverage company headquartered in London, England. It is a major distributor of Scotch whisky and other spirits and operates from 132 sites around the world.
