Manager fined Shs 150m for donating Kenya firm equipment to Naguru hospital

Court has directed Monica Komujuni, the former manager of Kenyan firm Hass Scientific and Medical Supplies Limited to refund $42,000 (about Shs 156m) for illegally donating a haematology analyzer to Naguru hospital.

In her judgment delivered on Wednesday, justice Lydia Mugambe noted that Komujuni donated the machine, which counts and identifies blood cells at a high speed and accuracy without authorisation from the company leadership.

During the hearing, Komujuni previously told court that the company had sanctioned the donation through its general manager, Stephen Ndegwa. She explained that Ndegwa sanctioned the donation as part of the company’s social corporate responsibility and an effort to gain business from government over their rivals Medishell, which had already donated another medical equipment.  

However, the company denied sanctioning the donation, saying it was only discovered while scrutinising the company documents following Komujuni’s resignation. They also discovered that Komujuni had registered another employee Cedrick Akwesigye as a contact person in case the hospital needed any technical information about the machine.

“It is clearly demonstrated that the defendant donated the X1000 to Naguru hospital without the required authorization from the head office in Nairobi. There was also no knowledge at the head office, where decisions are made, that the said machine was donated by the defendant in the Kampala office,” Mugambe wrote in her judgment.

She noted that the only authorization was for the donation of a smaller machine, which never left the office in Kampala. She said by doing this, the two employees acted in breach of trust and treachery when they went ahead to create a similar company Micro-Haem Scientifics and Medical Supplies Ltd dealing in the same business as their previous company.

“Literally they stole the business of the plaintiff and acquired sole distributorship of the product the plaintiff dealt in in Uganda and then left the plaintiff company,” the lady justice wrote.In addition to refunding the $42,000, Mugambe also awarded Hass Ltd Shs 5 million in general damages and another Shs 3 million in exemplary damages.