A legal battle over the reinstatement of Captain Martyne Luther Lunani has intensified after his lawyer asked the Employment and Labour Relations Court to summon the Principal Secretary for Transport for failing to comply with court orders.
Through his lawyer, Henry Kurauka, Capt. Lunani wants the PS to personally appear in court and explain why the Ministry of Transport has defied the directive despite the Public Service Commission (PSC) having complied by issuing a reinstatement letter.
The dispute dates back to April 30, 2025, when Justice Hellen Wasilwa of the Employment Court ruled that the Ministry of Roads and Transport had unlawfully failed to renew Capt. Lunani’s contract as Director of Aircraft Accident Investigation.
The judge ordered the PSC to re-engage Capt. Lunani in a suitable position, directed that he be paid all salaries from July 1, 2024, and further awarded him KSh 3 million in damages against the Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport for breach of contractual rights.
Following the judgment, the PSC said it acted promptly. In a sworn affidavit, PSC Secretary Paul Famba stated that the commission convened on May 28, 2025, and resolved to reappoint Capt. Lunani to his former position for a three-year term.
In correspondence to the Ministry, the PSC faulted the Transport PS for creating the impasse.
“The officer acted in violation of the law by making a decision on contract renewal that only the PSC was empowered to make,” it wrote, adding that the action had “cost the government Kenya Shillings Three Million which would have been avoided.”
On June 9, 2025, the PSC formally directed Transport PS Mohamed Dhagar to “issue the contract of employment immediately.” However, the ministry did not implement the order.
In its defense against contempt proceedings, the Ministry, through Principal Secretary Teresia Mbaika, argued that the matter was not straightforward.
She told the court that the contempt bid was defective since “a mandatory Certificate of Order against the Government had not been obtained.”
On the damages award, PS Mbaika offered a budgetary justification, saying: “The judgment was delivered near the end of the 2024/25 financial year when the budget was already closed. The budget-making process for 2025/26 was at an advanced stage, making it procedurally and legally impossible to allocate the funds immediately.”
She assured the court that the Ministry would include the amount in the 2025/26 supplementary estimates, pending National Treasury and parliamentary approval.
The PS also revealed that the CS for Roads and Transport and the Attorney General had filed Nairobi Civil Appeal No. 460 of 2025, challenging the entire judgment.
They also sought a stay of execution, which the Court of Appeal certified as urgent.
The standoff has created a constitutional dilemma: while the PSC insists it has implemented the court ruling, the Ministry is actively fighting the same decision in a higher court.
With the contempt application scheduled for hearing on October 21, 2025, Capt. Lunani’s reinstatement remains in limbo
