Ngurdoto Lodge wins reprieve to pay workers

The High Court in Arusha has stayed the execution of a compliance order issued by the Labor officer that had required Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge to issue their workers with employment contracts and pay them arrears amounting to over 231 million shillings. Judge Nyigulile Mwaseba issued the order after accepting the application for stay of execution lodged by Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge, the applicant, against the Labor Officer, the respondent, pending the hearing and final determination of an application for objection presented before the Labor Commissioner about the matter. “I find no reasons to deny the orders sought. I thus find merits in the application. Proceedings in application for execution are hereby stayed pending hearing and determination of the appeal before the Labor Commissioner,” she declared in her ruling delivered recently. The judge said there was no doubt that there is a pending objection before the Labor Commissioner, seeking to challenge the compliance order where the application for execution originated. Since the decision is yet to be made in respect of the objection, she went along with the submission by the applicant’s counsel that if the application for stay of execution is denied, the success of the appeal before the Labor Commissioner shall be rendered meaningless. “The balance of convenience tilts against the respondent in the sense that if the application is not granted there is no prejudice on his part. I hold this view because the respondent has not shown any,” the judge said. During the hearing of the application, the applicant was represented by learned Advocate Ezekiel Wilson, while the respondent was represented by their officer, Mr. Emmanuel Mweta