The Kericho Employment and Labour Court has sentenced Bomet County Governor Hillary Barchok and 10 senior county officials to 30 days’ imprisonment for contempt of court.

In her ruling on Thursday, June 18, 2026, Lady Justice Anna Mwaure ruled that the county chief and 10 other high-ranking county officials will serve the one month in civil jail as of June 18.

Judge Mwaure has stated that the court has really been grappling with the issue and hoping against hope that Barchok and the county officials will comply with the court orders.

“Since you have not been able to comply with the court orders, unfortunately, the law has to take its place, and that is it,” Judge Mwaure ruled.

“The governor of Bomet, Hillary Barchok; county secretary of Bomet, Simon Langat; county executive committee member in charge of finance, Milcah Rono; chairperson of the public service board, Engineer Alexander Ngeno; CEO of the county public service board, Emily Cheson; Rono Eric, the retired HR officer; and county public board members, including David Tuei, Isaiah Biegon, Paul Kirui, Cecilia Getich, and Millicent Soi, are all convicted for contempt of court and sentenced to one month’s imprisonment,” Judge Mwaure added.

Further, the court has directed the relevant Officer in Charge of Station (OCS) to immediately apprehend and commit all individuals to prison for a period of one month.

“The OCS Bomet is to execute the court orders and have the respondents (Governor Barchok and 10 others) arrested right away and put in prison,” Judge Mwaure ruled.

The landmark ruling comes after the Kenya County Government Workers Union, through lawyer James Oketch, urged the court to hold the Bomet County executive accountable for failing to comply with its earlier orders.

While urging the court to jail the contemnors, lawyer Oketch cited that the county executive has repeatedly disregarded court directives ordering the immediate reinstatement and payment of unlawfully terminated county employees. 

In addition, he stated that the county executive would only comply with the orders only when cited or threatened with committal.