When Beatrice Kathomi Kinyua walked out of her office in January 2025, she thought it was the end of her public service career. What she didn’t know was that months later, a court would vindicate her and declare her dismissal unlawful.
This week, the Employment and Labour Relations Court awarded her KSh6.9 million in compensation, faulting the Tharaka-Nithi County Government for violating her constitutional rights and treating her with open discrimination.
Justice Onesmus Makau described her sacking as “unfair, unlawful, and demeaning,” noting that Ms. Kinyua had been denied a fair hearing and isolated from her colleagues in ways that stripped her of dignity.
One of the incidents that stood out in court was her exclusion from a new official WhatsApp group for County Executive Committee (CEC) members — a move she said made her feel deliberately sidelined. “That was more than just a group chat,” her lawyer told the court. “It was the main channel of official communication, and her exclusion meant she was locked out of critical decision-making.”
The judge agreed, saying the act amounted to workplace victimization. He further dismissed the county government’s defence that the matter of official vehicles — where some executives were allocated cars and others were not — was simply a result of shortages. Instead, he ruled it was discriminatory.
Ms. Kinyua had served in the county government for over two years before her abrupt dismissal. Officials had accused her of neglecting duties and failing to respond to official queries, but the court said no credible evidence was presented to prove those allegations.
In the end, she was awarded KSh4.9 million for unfair dismissal and an additional KSh2 million for violation of her dignity. However, the judge declined her request to be reinstated, saying the trust between her and the county leadership had already broken down.
For Ms. Kinyua, the money may offer some relief, but the judgment speaks to something larger: the right of public servants to be treated with fairness and respect, even in the often rough world of county politics.
