- The High Court has ordered the University of Nairobi to pay Sh3 million to graduate Marceline Murono over her last-minute exclusion from graduation.
- Justice Lawrence Mugambi has ruled that the university violated Murono’s constitutional rights under Articles 47, 28 and 29.
- The court has directed the university to issue an unqualified apology within 30 days, failing which the compensation will rise to Sh4 million.
The High Court has ordered the University of Nairobi (UoN) to pay Sh3 million in compensation to a graduate whose name was removed from the graduation list on the day she was due to receive her degree, after finding that the institution violated her constitutional rights.
Justice Lawrence Mugambi ruled that the university’s actions, excluding Marceline Murono from the final graduation list without prior notice or an opportunity to respond, subjected her to humiliation, psychological distress and an affront to her dignity.
According to the court record, Murono had been allowed to proceed through the graduation process, had received a graduation gown and had attended the official rehearsal on the eve of the ceremony.
On the morning of the graduation ceremony in December 2023, she discovered that her name was missing from the graduation booklet after a soft copy was circulated in a class WhatsApp group. The court found that she had not received prior communication from the university explaining her removal from the list.
The university argued that Murono had used an incorrect form during the clearance process and had made a payment into the wrong university account. The court, however, found that this explanation did not adequately account for the university’s earlier conduct in allowing her to progress through the graduation process. Evidence showed that Murono had contacted a university finance officer on November 22, 2023, providing her registration details in an attempt to resolve the payment issue. The court found that the university had sufficient information about the matter but failed to give her a fair opportunity to address the problem before excluding her from graduation.
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Justice Mugambi held that the university’s conduct breached Article 47 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable, efficient, expeditious and procedurally fair. The court also found violations of Murono’s rights to human dignity and protection from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under Articles 28 and 29 of the Constitution.
The court noted that Murono had invited family members, relatives, friends and colleagues to celebrate the milestone, and considered the emotional and social consequences of the university’s decision significant enough to warrant constitutional compensation.
The court also rejected the university’s argument that Murono should first have exhausted internal dispute-resolution mechanisms before approaching the courts. Justice Mugambi found that although such mechanisms existed formally, the evidence showed they had not provided meaningful redress in the circumstances.
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Beyond the monetary award, the court ordered the University of Nairobi to issue Murono with an unqualified apology within 30 days of the judgment, failing which the compensation payable would increase by a further Sh1 million, raising the total award to Sh4 million. Murono was also awarded Sh24,000 in special damages.
The university was granted a 30-day stay of execution after its lawyer indicated that instructions were being sought on whether to appeal the judgment.
By Kithinji Njeru
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