COURT DIRECTIONS
(BEFORE HON. JUSTICE OCHARO KEBIRA – 17TH JULY 2026)
1. The claimant/Decree Holder is hereby granted leave to file a replying affidavit within 4 days.
2. The court cannot ignore the peculiar circumstances that have emerged. The respondent has deponed that the garnishee order nisi currently affects virtually all its principal accounts resulting in the substantial paralysis of its day-to-day operations. While a Judgment Creditor is undoubtedly entitled to the fruits of a lawful judgment without unreasonable delay the process of execution is not intended to punish or cripple the Judgment Debtor. Garnishee proceedings exist for one purpose – to secure and facilitate just satisfaction of the decree, not to bring the business operations of a Judgment Debtor to a standstill, where there exists a less disruptive means of securing the decretal sum.
3. In the unique circumstances of this matter, currently obtaining and considering that this court is enjoined by the overriding objectives of the court and by Article 159 of the Constitution to administer justice in a manner that is proportionate, practical and directed towards achieving substantive justice, this court has to at this point balance to equally legitimate interests pending the hearing of this application – on the one hand, the Decree-Holder’s undoubted right to realise the fruits of the judgment, and on the other the need to ensure that execution does not occasion unnecessary commercial paralysis where the decretal amount can be adequately secured by an alternative mechanism pending the hearing and determination of the application.
4. In the courts considered view, the interest of justice at his point, would be best served by securing the decretal sum directly by deposit into court. Such a course fully safeguards the decree-holder’s interest while at the same time alleviating the immediate operations difficulties said to have been occasioned by freezing the Respondent’s principal accounts. Once the decretal amount is secured in court, the purpose underlying the garnishee order nisi would for all practical purposes, have been achieved.
5. Accordingly, and without in any manner making any determination on the merits of the application, the garnishee proceedings, and the pending application for stay pending appeal;
a) The respondent is directed to deposit the entire of the decretal sum in court forthwith.
b) For the sole and limited purpose of complying with (a) above, the Respondent is granted leave to access its account maintained at ABSA BANK and withdraw some amount as is necessary to effect the deposit of the entire decretal sum into court. This leave is strictly confined to that purpose and shall not be construed as varying or discharging the garnishee order nisi in any other respect.
c) Upon confirmation that the entire sum has been deposited into court, the garnishee order nisi shall automatically stand discharged, the decretal amount having been fully secured pending further orders of the court.
d) For avoidance of doubt, these directions are purely preservatory and facilitative in nature. They neither determine nor prejudice the respondent pending application for stay of execution. That application shall be heard and determined on its own merits, upon consideration of applicable legal principles and the material to be placed before the court by the parties.
e) The application shall be heard on 22/07/2026.
Dated signed and delivered this 17th July 2026
(BEFORE HON. JUSTICE OCHARO KEBIRA – 17TH JULY 2026)
1. The claimant/Decree Holder is hereby granted leave to file a replying affidavit within 4 days.
2. The court cannot ignore the peculiar circumstances that have emerged. The respondent has deponed that the garnishee order nisi currently affects virtually all its principal accounts resulting in the substantial paralysis of its day-to-day operations. While a Judgment Creditor is undoubtedly entitled to the fruits of a lawful judgment without unreasonable delay the process of execution is not intended to punish or cripple the Judgment Debtor. Garnishee proceedings exist for one purpose – to secure and facilitate just satisfaction of the decree, not to bring the business operations of a Judgment Debtor to a standstill, where there exists a less disruptive means of securing the decretal sum.
3. In the unique circumstances of this matter, currently obtaining and considering that this court is enjoined by the overriding objectives of the court and by Article 159 of the Constitution to administer justice in a manner that is proportionate, practical and directed towards achieving substantive justice, this court has to at this point balance to equally legitimate interests pending the hearing of this application – on the one hand, the Decree-Holder’s undoubted right to realise the fruits of the judgment, and on the other the need to ensure that execution does not occasion unnecessary commercial paralysis where the decretal amount can be adequately secured by an alternative mechanism pending the hearing and determination of the application.
4. In the courts considered view, the interest of justice at his point, would be best served by securing the decretal sum directly by deposit into court. Such a course fully safeguards the decree-holder’s interest while at the same time alleviating the immediate operations difficulties said to have been occasioned by freezing the Respondent’s principal accounts. Once the decretal amount is secured in court, the purpose underlying the garnishee order nisi would for all practical purposes, have been achieved.
5. Accordingly, and without in any manner making any determination on the merits of the application, the garnishee proceedings, and the pending application for stay pending appeal;
a) The respondent is directed to deposit the entire of the decretal sum in court forthwith.
b) For the sole and limited purpose of complying with (a) above, the Respondent is granted leave to access its account maintained at ABSA BANK and withdraw some amount as is necessary to effect the deposit of the entire decretal sum into court. This leave is strictly confined to that purpose and shall not be construed as varying or discharging the garnishee order nisi in any other respect.
c) Upon confirmation that the entire sum has been deposited into court, the garnishee order nisi shall automatically stand discharged, the decretal amount having been fully secured pending further orders of the court.
d) For avoidance of doubt, these directions are purely preservatory and facilitative in nature. They neither determine nor prejudice the respondent pending application for stay of execution. That application shall be heard and determined on its own merits, upon consideration of applicable legal principles and the material to be placed before the court by the parties.
e) The application shall be heard on 22/07/2026.
Dated signed and delivered this 17th July 2026