Financially troubled Standard Media Group has been ordered to pay its former chief executive officer Orlando Lyomu Sh34 million. According to the orders that were issued by the Employment and Labour Court, the media house will pay Lyomu the amount in 12 monthly instalments.
The amount is the balance of a total of Sh38 million that the court had ordered the media house to pay Lyomu in October 2024.
In that ruling, the court had ordered the Standard Media to pay Orlando Lyomu a sum of Sh38,342,857 in Sh750,000 monthly instalments and an additional Sh1,021,140 in legal costs within three months. By December 2024, the media house had not fulfilled the court order.
Lyomu told the court that by March 2025, the media group had only paid Sh4,507,655 of the expected Sh5,250,000. Sh33 million which was to be paid out in about Sh5 million instalments per month were yet to be paid out. He further told the court that the failure by the media house to abide by the court orders had compelled him to return to court seeking for an enforcement.
The court agreed with his grievances and ordered the Standard to pay Lyomu over Sh2.75 million per month. The media house will also pay him an additional Sh500,000 for two months to settle the court costs of over Sh1 million.
“That the Respondent [The Standard] pays the balance of the judgment amount in twelve (12) equal consecutive instalments, with the first instalment being payable on or before 5th May 2025. Subsequent instalments to be paid on or before the 5th day of every month until payment in full,” the Employment and Labour court judge Stella Rutto ruled.
“That the assessed party and party costs in the sum of Sh1,021,140 be paid in two (2) equal consecutive instalments through the law firm of Nyachae & Ashitiva Advocates on or before 5th May 2025.”
According to court proceedings, the total amount that the Standard shall pay out was the total amount drawn from salary arrears, six months’ salary in lieu of notice, unpaid leave and a bonus for the month of March 2023.
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Lyomu had served the Standard as CEO for a period of five years. He had replaced former chief executive officer Sam Shollei who had left the company August 2017. Lyomu would later leave the Standard in June 2023.
