JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
A. Background and Procedural History
(1) This is an appeal by Telkom Kenya Limited (the appellant), a limited liability company registered under the Companies Act (Cap 486) against the judgment and decree of the High Court (Mwera J, as he then was, delivered on 28th September 2011 in Nairobi HCCC Nos. 216, 219, 255 of 2007 as consolidated),whereby it was ordered that the respondents be paid a severance sum and a further payment (“Golden handshake”) in an action challenging the legality of the appellant’s staff rationalization scheme initiated in the first half of 2006.
(2) The procedural history of this appeal and its antecedents are as follows. Telkom Kenya Limited, itself the progeny of a restructuring process following the winding up of the Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation in 1999, announced its restructuring and staff rationalization programme in March 2006 pending its ensuing privatization. According to the record before the Court of Appeal, the r…