Switzerland’s High Court in Geneva has ordered all assets, precious stones and any official account of the government of Uganda to be frozen over failure to pay 300, 000 dollars in damages awarded to a Ugandan woman for unfair dismissal reports the Daily Monitor.
The court issued the orders in July 14th following Uganda’s United Nations Mission in Geneva and ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kampala failure to honour two earlier court orders by the Swiss labour court which awarded the claim and a High Court order in which government lost the appeal according to the report by the Daily Monitor.
The orders were given to the mission’s bank account holder, Union Bank of Switzerland/UBS and served to officials in Geneva and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kampala. The court also ordered the government of Uganda to pay court fees and related costs due to the failure to pay the damages. The 300 thousand dollars gets 5 per cent interest annually until payment is completed.
The government of Uganda was unable to justify Ms.Irene Kalibala’s termination and to produce her termination letter. Ms Kalibala worked for the mission since 1999, started off as a front desk administrator and promoted to public and investor relations. She was terminated in 2011 when she was living in Geneva therefore protected by the Swiss laws.
The permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Uganda, Mr. James Mugume said that Uganda has invoked diplomatic immunity of the mission and has also referred the matter to the Solicitor General for guidance and The Ministry of Finance for payment.
