Major win for journalists, media houses as Ruiru Water boss Mary Karogo dealt blow after court dismisses defamation case

• Principal Magistrate Hon. B. M Cheloti directed that the suit against the 8 media houses be struck out and Ngima Karogo pay all the litigation costs.
• The ruling cements the fact that all accusations levelled against her by a Ruiru resident named Veronica Njoki Kinyua and reported to EACC in a letter dated November 7, 2023, are indeed true.
• The Finance boss is further accused of paying herself per diems for meetings that she failed to attend as well as failing to declare her wealth since she’s accused of amassing wealth from illegal deals.

The problems facing the finance manager for the Ruiru Water Company Mary Ngima Karogo seem to be getting worse.

Days after losing a court case she had filed against different media houses for publishing the accusations filed at EACC by Veronica Njoki Kinyua, the court has ordered her to meet all the legal costs incurred by all ten parties she had sued for defamation.

At the same time, Ngima Karogo is staring at an avalanche of impending legal suits by the defendants seeking damages for wrongful accusation.

While making his judgement on May 31, 2024, Principal Magistrate Hon. B. M Cheloti directed that the suit against the 8 media houses be struck out and Ngima Karogo pay all the litigation costs.

The magistrate noted that several of the mentioned respondents were wrongly included by the plaintiff and ordered their names to be immediately struck out of the suit.

The ruling cements the fact that all accusations levelled against her by a Ruiru resident named Veronica Njoki Kinyua and reported to EACC in a letter dated November 7, 2023, are indeed true.

Veronica in a petition to the graft body has accused the Finance Manager of Kiambu’s Ruiru Water Company, Mary Ngima Karogo of gross misconduct that had led to the loss of millions of shillings by the water agency.

In an official complaint to EACC Veronica listed seven allegations against the finance boss.

In the compliant, Veronica wants EACC to start investigating Karogo since she believes the evidence provided is enough to declare her unfit to hold public office due to corruption and integrity issues contrary to the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.

Among the allegations facing Karogo is her mis-advice to the company as Finance Manager leading to non-remittance of corporate tax amounting to more than Ksh300 million. This, she said has led to great financial loss through penalties.

Karogo is also alleged to have released a report by Water Services Regulatory Board (WASREB) and thereafter misadvised the company resulting in a fine of Ksh3.6 million which was deducted from WASREB guarantee.

The Finance boss is further accused of running the company singlehandedly by assuming managerial powers of the institution by unfairly treating employees and firing and hiring employees of the company.

She is accused of seizing the powers of Human Resource Manager by irregularly employing her relatives and allocating them top positions while demoting actual employees who qualify for the positions without any valid reason.

Karogo is further alleged to have illegitimately employed herself on permanent and pensionable terms contrary to the company’s policy which states that she ought to be on a contractual basis.

It remains to be seen, how the Kiambu County Government, the Board and Management of the Ruiru water company and other relevant authorities will deal with the issues raised by the concerned Ruiru resident since reliable sources claim that she enjoys extensive protection from the managing director and some members of the board resulting to her high handedness and feeling of being untouchable “.

The Finance boss is further accused of paying herself per diems for meetings that she failed to attend as well as failing to declare her wealth since she’s accused of amassing wealth from illegal deals within the water company.