TTCL contests payment of 100m/- to its ex-employee

THE Tanzania Telecommunications Limited (TTCL) has filed an application at the Court of Appeal for extension of time to allow it to apply for stay of execution of High Court decree for payment of 100m/- to its former employee, Stanly Mwabulambo.

On May 10, last year, High Court Judge Iman Aboud ordered TTCL to pay Mr Mwabulambo the said amount after ruling in his favour following allegations that the company had framed up criminal charges against him, relating to threatening to kill his boss, one Nigel Williams.

Advocate Elisa Msuya, for the Company, filed the application in question under certificate of urgency last week, alleging that Mr Mwabulambo was a person with meagre resources following the termination of his employment services.

"In the event he manages to execute the decree, it will be very difficult for the applicant (TTCL) to recover any or the full amount executed in the event the intended application for stay and appeal succeeds," he stated.

Court documents show that although the judgment and decree of the High Court was delivered on May 10, last year, it was not until February 5, this year, when counsel for the applicant was notified that the said two documents were ready for collection.

Such copies of the two documents, the records indicate, were as such collected on February 7, this year. "It is the requirement under the law that an application for stay of execution should be accompanied by a copy of the said decree or judgment intended to be stayed," reads one of the grounds advanced.

In his affidavit to support the application, Advocate Msuya stated that on December 3, 2007, Mr Mwabulambo filed a suit, claiming that TTCL had maliciously and without any lawful cause reported to the Central Police Station that he had threatened to kill Mr Williams by way of writing.

Mr Mwabulambo, therefore, was arrested and kept in custody. He had alleged that such report was made mala fide (in bad faith) and with malice. The former employee, therefore, claimed a sum of 370m/- comprising general damages, punitive damages and exemplary damages.

The TTCL had resisted to the allegations, but upon hearing the evidence presented, Judge Aboud delivered her judgment in favour of the employee and awarded him 90m/- as general damages and 10m/- as punitive damages.

Immediately following delivery of the judgment and decree, TTCL filed a notice of appeal and also wrote to the Registrar of the Court a letter, applying for copies of the judgment and the decree for appeal.

Daily News: