Court upholds UGX 90M award to former PPDA finance boss

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Court of Appeal in Kampala has upheld the more than Shillings 90million award given to Mary Pamela Sozi, the former Director of Finance and Administration in the Public Procurement Disposable Act-PPDA in compensation for unlawful termination.

The judgment arises from a decision by the then High Court Judge, Elizabeth Musoke in 2015 who argued that Sozi’s services were erroneously terminated since she was never given a fair hearing. Sozi told court that on September 29th 2011, she wrote to the Executive Director of PPDA requesting the approval of her annual leave application to allow her to accompany her husband to the United States of America for treatment.

She explained that on December 7th 2011, the  Executive Director wrote back confirming the approval of her leave for 58 working days instead of the 30 working days that she had applied for. However, Sozi told the court that she found a termination letter of her services with effect from February 28th 2012, upon her return.

According to the court records, Sozi was sacked for alleged failure to meet the deadline to submit updated financial reports as well as delayed submission of internal audit reports to the Executive Director. As such, Sozi sued PPDA in 2012 for unfair dismissal and sought compensation in lieu of notice, gratuity, unpaid leave, severance allowance, and an order that she should be given a certificate of service and legal costs.

She argued that the authority didn’t follow the proper procedure while terminating her services as an employee. In 2015, the then High Court Judge Elizabeth Musoke found that Sozi’s services had indeed been terminated without giving her a fair hearing and awarded her Shillings 6.5 million for untaken leave, Shillings 7.8 million for payment in lieu of one month’s notice,  Shillings 5.8 million in gratuity, four weeks net pay of Shillings 7.8million, refund of monies deducted from her terminal benefits of Shillings 1.1 million and Shillings 60million in general damages.

Musoke imposed 15 percent interest on the money from the date Sozi filed her case up to full payment. Dissatisfied with Musoke’s decision, PPDA appealed the judgment, arguing that the judge had erred in law and fact when she held that the claims made by Sozi for gratuity and unpaid leave were not speculative and awarded her the said monies.

The court also heard that the trial judge had erred in law and fact when she held that Sozi is entitled to receive a certificate of service and an award of general damages amounting to Shillings 60 million at 15 percent interest effective from the year when she filed the case. PPDA asked the Court of Appeal to set aside the High Court decision.

However, in its judgment delivered on Monday, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal Justices comprising Christopher Izama Madrama, Irene Mulyagonja, and Monica Mugenyi dismissed the appeal by PPDA on grounds that it lacks merit and upheld the decision by the lower court, saying Sozi’s contract had been terminated unlawfully.

The Justices however reduced the 15 percent interest that was put on the monies and substituted it with an interest of six percent, which will be effective from the date of judgment, not the date when the case was filed as the High Court Judge had ordered.

The justices reasoned that by the time Sozi filed her case, the award had not yet accrued and therefore it was erroneous to give her interest from the time she filed the case in 2012 as opposed to 2015 when the case was determined in her favor.

“In other words, interest is awarded for the period when the plaintiff or claimant did not have the use of the money which is due. Following that principle, the award of interest on the 60,000,000/= from the date of filing the suit was erroneous because it had not accrued”, said the Justices.

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URN