A court has stopped Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi from auctioning three government vehicles to recover Sh750,000 awarded to him as compensation for damage caused to his luxurious Bentley Bentayga.
The no-nonsense lawyer, otherwise known as Grand Mullah, seized the vehicles from the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) last year. This after the State-run roads agency failed to pay the money awarded to him in a court ruling on August 2020.
In the ruling, Magistrate Edwin Mulochi found KeNHA liable for the damage caused to Ahmednasir’s luxury SUV after stones and shrapnel from road repairs hit the windscreen on the Nairobi-Namanga highway in August of 2018.
Court documents stated that Ahmednasir Abdullahi had instructed auctioneers to attach three vehicles belonging to KeNHA after the agency failed to pay him the Sh750,311 he spent to replace the shattered windscreen.
The vehicles included two Toyota Prados and a pickup. An assortment of office furniture had also been seized.
KeNHA assistant director Mr Fredrick Oyunga Onyango, however, moved to court terming the seizure irregular and unlawful.
The agency argued the Sh750k award was in its current budget because the initial court order came after its budget for the year to June had been approved.
But Mr Abdullahi opposed KeNHa, saying the law makes it mandatory for the Director-General to pay awards without excuses.
Justice Chacha Mwita ordered Grand Mullah to release the vehicles to KeNHA saying the authority’s assets cannot be used to settle the payment.
“In the end, having considered the twin applications, submissions and the law, it is this court’s finding that section 68 of Kenya Roads Act, restricts attachment of the applicant’s assets, and therefore, no attachment should have taken place,” he said.
Justice Mwita further ordered KeNHA to pay the debt saying the law mandates the Director-General to settle the award without delay.
The Judge also refused to stop the payment of the award, pending an appeal. Justice Mwita also rejected KeNHA’s request to deposit the money in court as a condition to stop the demand.
