Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) chief executive officer Wilson Muthaura has been found in contempt of court after failing to act on orders issued on reinstating the Managing Director of the Kenya Tea Packers (Ketepa) Albert Otochi and the General Manager of KTDA Power Company Japheth Sayi.
In a ruling dated December 15, 2022, Judge B O Manani, also directed the CEO to reinstate the full salary of the two officials, which had been cut to half after their suspension in September.
Sources privy to the matter, however, say that Muthaura has vowed not to follow the orders.
He was recently overheard stating that if he is forced to bring anyone back, they will be frustrated into quitting.
One way he plans to do this is by fixing them into multiple scandals and later giving them up to authorities.
Muthaura has bragged of enjoying the backing of powerful officials in the Kenya Kwanza administration, including President William Ruto.
He says that Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mithika Linturi is always on his speed dial whenever he needs favours from government.
In a letter dated September 22, KTDA suspended Mr Otochi and another company official and placed them on half salary, however, the court restrained the agency from effecting the directive.
The two officials went to court in September after they were served with a show-cause notice for allegedly interacting with some directors of KTDA.
According to Mr Otochi, Mr Muthaura is misrepresenting himself as the group chief executive officer, yet he is the general manager of human resources and administration and hence not his supervisor.
He says issuing the letter when he is not his supervisor is unlawful.
He further says the CEO started the disciplinary process against him, while the human resource policy says suspension should only be issued where there are pending investigations.
Mr Otochi says he was suspended, yet there are no pending investigations.
Further, he says the group HR policy also allows him to interact with directors, and the purported charges for gross misconduct for interacting with directors are illegal.
Mr Muthaura was appointed as KTDA’s chief executive following the suspension of the former head, Lerionka Tiampati.
