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Sakaja risks six-month jail term over staff CBA
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja risks a six-month jail term over the failure to implement a collective bargaining agreement with county government workers.
In an application filed before the Employment and Labour Relations court, the Kenya County Government Workers Union wants Mr Sakaja and five other senior Nairobi county officials summoned to court and explain why they should not be cited for contempt of court.
The union says in court documents that the failure to abide by and implement the CBA does great injustice to its members but also an affront to the court, and amounts to contempt of court orders.
“It is trite that the obedience of a court order is fundamental to the administration of justice and rule of law in order for a party who obtains an order from the Court to be certain that the order will be obeyed by those to whom it is directed,” the union said.
The ruling on the contempt application will be made on February 13.
The union said that on November 15, 2024, the court declared that advisories issued by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) of April 2022 and April 2023 were unlawful for overstepping the commission’s constitutional mandate and for violating the parties’ right to collective bargaining under Article 41(5) of the Constitution.
The court ordered that the negotiated CBA be resubmitted to SRC for advice within specified timelines and, in default, be presented to the court for registration.
In compliance with the Judgment, the union said it resubmitted the CBA and after persistent follow-ups, including formal demands and correspondence with multiple government offices, the CBA was eventually registered by the court on May 28, 2025.
The union added that under Section 59 of the Labour Relations Act, a registered CBA is binding, enforceable, and must be implemented, with its terms automatically incorporated into the contracts of all covered employees.
However, months after the registration, the Nairobi County government has failed to implement the CBA, despite being fully aware of its existence, having negotiated it, and having acknowledged its registration.
“This inaction has caused significant financial and social hardship to thousands of workers who had a legitimate expectation that the agreement would be honoured once registered,” Mr James Oketch said.
Mr Oketch said a court order once issued binds all and sundry, the mighty and the lowly equally without exception.
“In view of the foregoing, the relevant officers of the cited officer should be summoned before this honourable court to show cause why they should not be committed to civil jail for blatantly failing to comply with Orders of the honourable court,” he added.
The union said it received a letter on August 5, 2025, from the county secretary intimating their resolve to implement the CBA, prompting the union to issue another letter requesting for the fast tracking of the process.
Court documents stated that in response to the letter, the county government admitted that the CBA exists and is registered, but attributed its non-implementation to alleged administrative delays at the Ministry of Public Service and Human Capital Development, including failure to upload the CBA into the Human Resource Information System (HRIS).
The county alleged that the delay is beyond their control and that they have written several letters to the Ministry seeking action.
However, the union says the Labour Relations Act does not recognise third-party administrative hurdles as a defence to non-compliance.
According to the union, any such processes ought to have been addressed during negotiations, not used retrospectively to delay workers’ lawful entitlements.
The county workers' union stated that unless urgent intervention is made, over 10,000 union members will continue to face economic harm, and the capital city risks industrial unrest arising from prolonged injustice.
