Kaimosi TTC ordered to pay former student Sh2.5m over unlawful suspension
The High Court overturned a lower court decision, finding that the Board of Management of Kaimosi Teachers College violated student Henry Wekesa's constitutional right to fair administrative action when it unlawfully suspended him in 2019 without a proper hearing.
The High Court has faulted the Board of Management of Kaimosi Teachers College for unlawfully suspending a student and effectively denying him the opportunity to complete his teacher-training course.
The court found that the college violated Henry Wekesa’s right to fair administrative action by suspending him for a year without giving him a proper hearing and subsequently failing to readmit him.
“I therefore find that the Appellant's suspension of 16th January 2019, and the Respondent's subsequent failure to hear and readmit him, were unlawful and procedurally unfair. The trial Court erred in holding otherwise,” the court ruled.
Mr Wekesa was admitted to the college in September 2017 to pursue the two-year P1 teacher-training course. He had completed his first year and was preparing for his second teaching practice when he was suspended in January 2019.
The college accused him of failing to appear before its disciplinary committee and failing to sit a mathematics supplementary examination.
Mr Wekesa denied ever being summoned before the disciplinary committee. He said the letters summoning him to appear were handed to him together with the suspension letter of January 16, 2019, months after they had been issued.
He said the alleged disciplinary hearing was scheduled for July 20, 2018, which was an examination day, while the show-cause letter dated July 18 required him to respond by 3 pm the same day.
After serving the one-year suspension, Mr Wekesa paid Sh27,264 demanded by the college before his case could be heard and he could be readmitted. He said he was, however, never summoned for a hearing or allowed back to college.
The P1 course was subsequently phased out in 2020, making it impossible for him to resume his studies.
He sued the college in March 2023, seeking damages for the interruption of his education and a refund of fees amounting to Sh148,344.
The court awarded him Sh2.5 million as damages for violation of his rights and ordered the institution to refund him Sh27,264, which he had paid towards the completion of his course.
The trial court dismissed his case in October 2025, holding that he had failed to prove his claim.
But the High Court overturned the decision, saying that while educational institutions have the power to enforce disciplinary rules, they cannot exercise that power in a manner that destroys or negates a student’s constitutional rights.
The court pointed out that Article 47(1) of the Constitution guarantees every person the right to administrative action that is expeditious, efficient, lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair. The Fair Administrative Action Act also requires an administrator to give an affected person prior and adequate notice of the proposed action, reasons for it and an opportunity to be heard.
“Secondly, the notice, even if served, was not adequate,” the court said, noting that the show-cause letter gave Wekesa only hours to respond, while the disciplinary hearing was fixed two days later in the middle of his examinations.
“A hearing fixed at two days' notice, in the middle of a student's examinations, is not ‘prior and adequate notice’ within Section 4(3)(b) of the Act,” the court said.
The court also rejected the college’s argument that Wekesa was responsible for his own predicament.
Dean of Students Nixon Amendi had testified that Wekesa had been drunk and disorderly on July 14 and 15, 2018, failed to attend the disciplinary hearing, missed the supplementary examination and was never promoted to second year.
The court said that even if the alleged misconduct was serious enough to warrant immediate suspension, the college was still required to give Mr Wekesa an opportunity to respond before taking further disciplinary action.
It also found that Wekesa had effectively been punished twice over the mathematics examination, having first been suspended for two weeks in October 2018 before the one-year suspension imposed in January 2019.
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