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Tana River governor loses bid to attach Ketraco accounts in Sh68m debt row
Tana River County Governor Dhadho Godhana.
A court has blocked Tana River County Governor Dhadho Godhana from attaching bank accounts of the State-owned Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) to recover a Sh68 million debt owed to the devolved unit.
The governor wanted the court to attach Ketraco’s bank accounts at Kenya Commercial Bank, NCBA, Cooperative Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank to satisfy the decretal sum of Sh68,557,865 awarded to the county government in March 2023.
The amount was for compensation of land compulsorily acquired by Ketraco as a wayleave for the construction of the Garsen-Hola-Bura-Garissa transmission line.
The project affected more than 300,000 members of different communities in the county including Ndera, Kalkacha, Chifiri, Bura, Hosingo/Hirimani, Chwele, Dukanotu, Sala, Mororo, Madogo, and Saka traversing more than 1748.93 acres of unregistered Community land under the county government.
However, Judge Mwangi Njoroge rejected the request and ruled that although state corporations are not fully exempted from the execution of court orders, the process followed in the instant case was flawed.
He said the proposal of attaching the bank accounts was tantamount to execution against the government which is of the type prohibited by the law.
“It is not that Ketraco is absolved from settling decretal sums held against it. This court is only saying that the proper process for execution against the government must apply to it yet it has not been followed hence the execution process is flawed and ought not to be permitted to proceed,” he stated. He discharged the garnishee order issued on April 26, 2024.
Mr Godhana said that the court had in March 2023 directed that the balance due from Ketraco, being the sum of Sh68 million, be paid to a special interest-earning account opened by the county government.
He said Ketraco was yet to pay the said amount and had declined to do so until the National Land Commission was included as a signatory to the account.
The Governor asserted that despite Ketraco’s claim that they did not have enough funds to settle the decretal sum, he had reasons to believe that the bank accounts intended to be attached were adequately funded to satisfy the decree. He also wanted it to be condemned to pay interest and costs.
A KCB officer, only named as Gordon, confirmed that as at the time the garnishee order was served in March 2023 upon the bank, the outstanding balance held by the bank for Ketraco’s account was sufficient to settle the amount.
For its part, Ketraco through General Manager-Finance Tom Imbo said the intended attachment of accounts contravened the Government Proceedings Act and that the corporation did not have enough funds to comply with the court’s orders.
He explained that the targeted accounts were donor-funded accounts relating to different projects that were being executed by Ketraco. He said that the monies held in those accounts were meant for payment of contractors undertaking different projects and compensation to land owners affected in those projects.
Mr Imbo asserted that attaching Ketraco accounts would disrupt its operations and potentially trigger a myriad of suits against it.
He argued that the wayleave acquisition is funded by the government of Kenya and no funds for that purpose have been availed by the government for the financial year 2023/2024.