The railway concession was supposed to be handed over to Sheltam Consortium, a South Africa-based Company on December 31, following the award on October 14, a 25-year concession for companies to the Rift Valley Railways Consortium (RVRC) led by South Africa?s Sheltam Rail Company, which had warned of impending losses in jobs and benefits.

The consortium plans to invest $322m (268m Euros) into rolling stock, maintenance and other sectors. In Kenya, concessioning of the Kenya Railways Corporations? Ksh36b asset base was stopped by the Nairobi High Court on Friday.

Justice Jackson Ojwang stopped the concessioning pending the determination of a suit filed by 6,000 pensioners seeking payment of Ksh17b. Ojwang said the pensioners had shown that they have a case and the fate of their pensions and other dues owed by KR need to be determined before new investors move in.

The judge ordered that there should be no signing of any pact between KR and Rift Valley Railways Consortium (RVRC) about the handing over of the country?s largest parastatal.

He dismissed with costs an application by KR?s lawyer Dr Albert Mumma, who had urged the court to strike out the entire suit by the 6,000 pensioners on grounds that the court lacked jurisdiction to determine the serious legal issues raised therein.