Defence Ministry Principal Secretary Saitoti Torome Sentenced to Six Months in Prison

The High Court has handed a six-month prison term to Saitoti Torome, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Defence for contempt of court.

The Ministry of Defence had been ordered by the court to pay Sh17.2 million to a family whose property had been taken away by the State, but his ministry failed to obey the directive.

Slapping the sentence on the PS, High Court Judge Joseph Sergon ruled that Torome declined to appear before the court to mitigate, despite being given a chance to explain why the Ministry had not effected the order to compensate the family.

The applicants, Eunice Makori and Hellen Makone moved to court after the Ministry of Defence frustrated their attempts to claim the compensation awarded by the court after they handed over a piece of land in located in Mombasa to the government. The property belonged to their late relative.

The two said that despite making several trips to the Ministry of Defence offices to demand for payment, the Ministry failed to do so. The High Court in 2015 ordered the state to pay them.

The Sh17,257,930 compensation includes Sh9.2 million awarded to them by the court in 2015 plus accrued interest. In papers he filed in June this year, Mr Torome said he doesn't owe the family any cash personally and that the Ministry could only compensate the family after Parliament allocates the ministry money for settling such debts.