The Employment and Labour Relations Court has found that the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) unlawfully struck 23 police officers off its payroll in 2023 after abruptly ending their secondment, directing the tax agency to compensate each officer with the equivalent of four months’ salary.
The officers had been competitively recruited into KRA’s investigations and enforcement unit and placed on the authority’s pay structure, which came with substantially higher salaries and benefits than those offered under the National Police Service. Their secondment terms detailed remuneration, medical cover, pension contributions, insurance, leave and working conditions aligned to KRA grading.
In her ruling, Justice Hellen Wasilwa held that although KRA was entitled to terminate the contracts, it failed to give adequate notice to allow the officers to prepare for relocation and the significant drop in income. She noted that many had made financial commitments, including school fees, housing arrangements and loans, based on the secondment terms.
The court found that the termination was sudden, unexplained and executed without any transition plan, amounting to a breach of the officers’ constitutional rights to fair labour practices and fair administrative action. The judge further held that the manner in which the contracts were ended amounted to degrading treatment.
KRA had issued termination letters in January 2023, bringing the secondments to an immediate end. The officers were informed days later and instructed to report back to the National Police Service, with no notice period, justification or cushioning measures provided.
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The affected officers argued that while they retained their positions within the police service, the sudden loss of enhanced pay and benefits caused serious economic and personal disruption, rendering the decision procedurally unfair and unconstitutional.
KRA acknowledged ending the secondments early but maintained that the contracts allowed termination and that public service regulations permit officers to be recalled to their parent institutions when secondment is no longer required. The authority argued that since the officers continued to earn police salaries, there was no unlawful termination and any reduction in earnings was incidental to their return to the NPS.
The court, however, emphasised that the case was not about whether KRA had the power to end the secondment, but how that power was exercised. It ruled that even where termination is lawful, public bodies remain bound by constitutional principles of fairness, reasonableness and humane treatment.
