Strathmore University is embroiled in a legal battle with one of its former senior employees that could see it pay millions of shillings in compensation and damages for infringement of property rights.
Professor Fred Ogola, who served the institution as a senior lecturer for nine years, is now seeking compensation of Sh26,160,750 with accrued interest in the case filed and pending in High Court.
According to documents seen by Nation.Africa , copyright infringement is at the heart of the serious allegations filed with the Employment and Labour Relations Court and the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.
Through his lawyer Morara Omoke, Professor Ogola has accused his former employer of career sabotage and intellectual property rights violations for blocking access to his work email, which denied him access to his teaching notes that he had been preparing for 12 years, including research materials, consultancy tools, research projects, book projects and publications that he kept on the university email.
It also made it impossible for him to use his electronic equipment, further damaging his career and his ability to generate income through consultancy and research.
The professor claims that Strathmore University's move to delete his email address attached to his Capsim account violates his intellectual property rights because the email contained his literary works, which have disappeared.
The lost literary works include a book titled Solomonic Economic Model , materials for weekly publications, as well as several consulting presentations.
“Book projects i.e. there are three book projects that I had begun but lost the content upon deletion of my email. One was titled: How to Formulate and Implement Strategy ; there are accumulated notes, presentations and work of 12 years that were kept as correspondence on email. I was subjected to unfair labour practices by the respondent during and at the time of unfair and unlawful dismissal,” Prof Ogola said.
According to court documents seen by the Nation , the professor has accused his former employer of several violations, including unfair hearing and administrative action.
Reputational damage, wrongful dismissal and unpaid dues are among the main claims in the case.
The amount includes salary arrears of Sh75,000, three months’ salary in lieu of notice as per the plaintiff's contract of employment totalling Sh1,125,000, and compensation for accrued leave days of Sh4,093,750.
He states that during his tenure at Strathmore University for over a decade from May 1, 2012 until April 6, 2023, “I never proceeded on leave. I was teaching and the University was earning out of the sessions I taught from the fees paid by the students.”
The unpaid hours date back to 2021 and they total 500 hours. The hours are to be paid at the rate of Sh12,000 per hour, grossing up to Sh6,000,000.
The claims also include Sh3,375,000 in lost gratuity amounting to 10 per cent of the lecturer's gross salary from 2014 to 2023, as well as twelve months' salary as compensation for wrongful termination amounting to Sh4,500,000.
“I underwent psychiatric treatment that cost me Sh15,000 per week, not including transport and time and opportunity costs lost for a whole year amounting to Sh780,000,” Professor Ogola stated through sworn affidavits.
“I suffered reputational damage as a result of the unlawful dismissal. The university alleged gross misconduct on [my part], which is an accusation that has far-reaching and long-term consequences on my career and reputation. An example is the assignments I was to undertake in the form of consultancies which were ultimately not granted because the university may have given an adverse report to the prospective clients. The position the university took is bound to potentially injure my future employability.”
At the time his employment was unceremoniously terminated on April 6, 2023, via a letter referenced P&C No. 2359-SBS8076/2023, Professor Ogola was a Senior Lecturer and MBA Academic Director at Strathmore Business School, having served the institution for 11 years.
According to court documents, he joined Strathmore University on May 1, 2012 as a lecturer at the Business School on a six-month probationary period, and quickly rose through the various ranks within a year.
“After successfully completing the six-month’ probation period, the respondent issued me with an employment contract dated October 29, 2012 confirming my employment and further appointing me as a Senior Lecturer of the Strathmore Business School,” the court documents read in part.
“On January 1, 2013, I was appointed as an Academic Director, MBA Program by the Management Committee of Strathmore Business School via a letter dated January 1, 2013. Following the appointment, the post attracted a responsibility allowance amounting to a sum of Sh25,000 per month.”
He was later confirmed as a permanent staff member and his payment terms were revised from contract to permanent basis through a letter referenced FO/092/HR No. SBS092/ 1189/ 02/2014 and dated February 12, 2014.
“Through a letter referenced HR No. 091/SBS2261/07/2015 and dated July 10, 2015, my salary was revised, attracting an increment. In the same letter, the Management Committee of the respondent commended my effort in carrying out my duties as a Senior Lecturer at Strathmore Business School.”
By letter referenced as HR No. 092/SBS2580/02/16 and dated February 22, 2016, I was informed of the addendum to the employment contract. With reference to my contract referenced as HR No. 092/1189/2/2014, it was clarified that my academic year would run from January to December and I was expected to teach a workload of 180 hours in the academic programmes and any subsequent teaching hours over and above the 180 hours would be charged at the rate of Sh12,000 per hour."
According to the professor, all his woes that saw his long successful career come crashing down began on October 28, 2022 when he was served with a showcase letter.
The letter, according to the affidavit, accused Professor Ogola of dishonesty based on the allegation that he had entered into a contract with the Kinshasa-based AGES Business School and served as its executive dean.
He was also accused of inviting the media to the opening dinner of the Doing Business in Africa Programme (DBAP) without the permission of the Director of Graduate Programmes, Stella Mwangi.
As a result, he was ordered to appear before the Disciplinary Committee on January 23, 2023 at 2.45pm to clarify the allegations against him, where he made his submissions on February 13, 2023.
However, according to Professor Ogola, the disciplinary hearing was conducted "in bad faith" from the outset and members of the Disciplinary Committee were unwilling to hear him out, culminating in his dismissal, which he claims was "premeditated".
In his defence, Professor Ogola has accused the Strathmore University Disciplinary Committee and the Appeals Committee of violating his right to a fair hearing under Article 50 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.
“During the disciplinary hearing, the respondent failed to supply me with full particulars of the allegations levelled against me. During the disciplinary hearing, I was not provided with full particulars of how the University’s reputation was damaged as a result of the media coverage that was aired,” he states.
“During the disciplinary hearing, the Disciplinary Committee refused to probe the complaint statement by IESE Business School or even to offer an explanation on the same.”
On the second offence, the professor believes that the director of graduate programmes was present during the said event, which was covered by the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), and "she even thanked me for my good remarks and for representing the university well".
“I could not share the video clip of the DBAP event before airing since it was out of my control. The media coverage was in the hands of the media personnel. Furthermore, I could have contravened the media freedom, which is well articulated in the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. The decision of the Committee was unreasonable because between the times I was requested to engage the media to provide the clips that were to be aired, it was a few minutes to the time the story was to be aired.
"The story was being aired at 10pm and I was asked to provide the clips a few minutes to 10pm. The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation confirmed in their letter that it is not a usual practice for the content of the media coverage to be subjected to a review by a body which is not the media itself before airing...I am not aware of any policy by the respondent to review communications held by media, specifically media coverage.”
