By GITAU wa NJENGA in Manchester, England Posted Saturday, November 14 2009 at 22:40
A Kenyan lawyer based in the United Kingdom has sued the Kenyan High Commission in London over Sh41 million (£325,961) allegedly owed to him.
Mr Ronald Onyango is accusing the high commission of breaching a contract entered with him for legal consultancy services, according to court documents made available to the Sunday Nation.
During the interim hearing of case before Mr Justice Holman at the High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division in Manchester, North West of England, on Wednesday, the court heard that Mr Onyango’s claim resulted from unpaid invoices amounting to £15,000 (Sh1.9 million). The debt has been outstanding since November 8, 2008, he says.
Mr Onyango, a Manchester-based lawyer, further seeks settlement of accumulated interest at the rate of 15 per cent per day arising from legal consultancy services he provided to the high commission in London between November 8, 2008 and January 4, 2009.
Mr Onyango, a trainee with Berkeley Solicitors in Manchester, filed the suit through Berkeley Solicitors while Kenya High Commission engaged Everatt Solicitors. Mr Onyango was represented by Mr Simon Hilton while Ms Harrison represented the Kenya High Commission.
Mr Onyango was reportedly awarded the contract during the tenure of Mr Joseph Muchemi, the embattled former high commissioner who has been embroiled in a row over his controversial recall from London.
It is believed that the daily costs of the case is at the tune £32,000 (Sh4 million) and the final bill may run into hundreds of millions for which Kenyan taxpayers may have to pick up. The case was adjourned until January 27, 2010.
This is not the first time that Kenya’s embassy has been sued and its property attached. In mid 2006, the country’s embassy in the Netherlands was reportedly sued and threatened with auction.
The then Foreign Affairs minister Raphael Tuju dismissed as fraud the alleged security contract between the Kenyan Government and a Dutch company.
The contract was allegedly signed in November 2002 prior to that year’s General Election and constituted one of the several fictitious contracts that then Narc government terminated when it took over power.
Source: Daily Nation
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