Former Nyeri town MP, Wanyiri Kihoro, and his daughter have been given the green light by the Court of Appeal to sue the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and an airline over the 2003 plane crash that killed his wife.
The authority has been fighting the Ksh54 million compensation suit through the lower courts on the grounds that the suit was filed late.
Justices Philip Waki, Roselyn Nambuye and Agnes Murgor allowed the appeal to proceed for fair hearing since the law restricting suit filing period had been changed.
“In that tricky balancing act, we respectfully choose to err on the side of fair hearing and give time to the respondents suing on behalf of the estate of the deceased to seek an extension of time to file the suit against KCAA,” the judges ruled.
During the ruling, the judges also informed Wanyiri and his daughter Mugure Wanyiri that they had only 14 days to file for a time extension.
Failure to which the matter, which was filed on September 2009, six years after the Busia plane accident, will stand struck out.
The former MP’s spouse Wanjiru Kihoro succumbed to her injuries after being in a coma for three years and nine months.
Daily Nation reported that soon after the Kihoros filed the case, KCAA filed an objection seeking it to be struck out arguing that it was time-barred.
Justice Michael Khamoni (now retired), who heard the application disagreed with KCAA and dismissed its objection.
The regulator then moved to the Court of Appeal faulting the High Court judge.
Attorney General supported the argument emphasizing that the suit was hopelessly out of time as it ought to have been filed one year after the cause of action arose in January 2003.
But through his lawyer John Khaminwa, Kihoro urged the Appellate court that limitation of actions clauses no longer applied in view of Article 159 (2) (d) of the Constitution.
Three other ministers — Raphael Tuju (Tourism), Linah Kilimo (Office of the President), and Martha Karua (Water) — who were also in the plane were later airlifted to Nairobi for treatment.
