Article 9 (1) (f) (supra) the Court holds that this application is admissible
and accordingly declares it as admissible.
ISSUE 3: Whether the Applicant was unfairly dismissed by the
Respondent.
The Court will determine whether the Applicant was unfairly dismissed by
addressing the following: the law governing dismissal - Dismissal in fact,
the right to be heard and non-compliance with the rules in the recruitment
process.
• The law governing dismissal : Dismissal in fact
The Applicant averred that he was appointed by way of letter dated 8th
October, 2012 marked as Exhibit 2 and that he was later confirmed by way
of letter dated as 1st April, 2015 and marked as Exhibit 3 of the Applicant’s
annexure. The Respondent confirms the appointment and further affirmed
that the Applicant’s appointment was governed by the Staff Rules and
Regulations. However, the Respondent states that the Applicant failed to
be confirmed upon completion of his probation and was confirmed a year
later due to disciplinary measures taken against the Applicant, and relies
on a letter dated 26th December, 2013 marked as Exhibit 7 in the
Respondent’s annexure.
The fact of the relationship between the parties was clearly illustrated in the
case of Ifeta v. Shell Pet. Dev. Co. Ltd (2006) 7 MJSC 121 at page 133,
para. G, Mohammed JSC had this to say: "In the determination of this
issue, I need to emphasize the binding-ness of the terms of the contract of
service between the parties. There is no doubt that the parties’ freedom of
15 | P a g e