The Court of Appeal in Mombasa has dismissed a fresh attempt by Laban Owino Ochieng to resuscitate his long-running labour dispute against Awanad Enterprises Limited, Pili Management Consultants Limited, and businessman Hezron Awiti Bollo.
In a ruling delivered on May 9, 2025, Justice Gatembu Kairu threw out Ochieng’s application to extend the time for filing a record of appeal against a 2021 ruling by the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC). The ELRC had previously struck out Ochieng’s case for being time-barred.
Ochieng’s legal troubles stem from the ELRC’s ruling on June 18, 2021. Although he initiated an appeal, the record of appeal due on September 2, 2021 was only filed on December 20, 2022, over a year late. The appeal was also served late, prompting the respondents to seek its dismissal. On April 26, 2024, the Court of Appeal declared the appeal incompetent and struck it out.
Subsequent attempts to review that decision were also rejected. In his latest application, filed in November 2024, Ochieng blamed the delay on the disappearance of his former advocate and the unavailability of certified court documents.
However, Justice Gatembu found Ochieng’s explanations inconsistent and unconvincing. “A delay of one year and three months… I am not sure whether it is both or either of those reasons,” he noted, stressing that litigants must actively follow up on their cases, even when represented.
The respondents, through counsel Amuga, argued that Ochieng had failed to provide a sufficient explanation for the prolonged delays and had instead subjected them to “a multiplicity of actions and endless litigation.”
Citing Supreme Court precedent, Justice Gatembu reiterated that time extensions are discretionary and only granted to deserving parties. In this case, he ruled that Ochieng had failed to meet that threshold.
With the application dismissed with costs, the ruling appears to have dealt a final blow to Ochieng’s chances of reviving the dispute, marking an end to a case plagued by missteps and procedural failures.
