Court jails Defence PS Torome for 6 months for contempt

What you need to know:

  • Mr Torome failed to appear to court to mitigate, despite having been given an opportunity to do so.
  • The complainants had claimed that the government had failed to pay them for the land in Mombasa belonging to their late relative.
  • The High Court had in 2005 directed the government to pay them.

The High Court has sentenced the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Defence Saitoti Torome to six months in jail for defying a court order.

Mr Torome’s ministry had been directed to pay Sh17.2 million to a family whose property had been taken by the State but his ministry did not comply with the order.

High Court Judge Joseph Sergon Thursday jailed Mr Torome after he failed to appear to court to mitigate, despite having been given an opportunity to do so.

The applicants, Eunice Makori and Hellen Makone had claimed that the government had failed to pay them for the land in Mombasa belonging to their late relative, which had been surrendered to the government.

The mother and daughter had, through their lawyer, said that several visits to the Ministry of Defence to plead for payment, fell on deaf ears.

The High Court had in 2005 directed the government to pay them.

The Sh17,257,930 they are demanding relates to Sh9.2 million awarded to them by the court in 2015 plus accrued interest.

In papers he filed in June this year, Mr Torome stated that he does not owe the family any money personally and that whatever they were demanding could only be paid to them after Parliament provides to the ministry money for settling such debts.