By William Madouk
Power blackout has disrupted a court hearing involving UAP insurance firm and its former employee. The hearing scheduled for Tuesday (Yesterday) was adjourned after power went.
“Today, we were ready to proceed with the hearing but unfortunately the court is not working because there is no power-they are lacking power,” the plaintiff’s advocate, Marko Reech told journalists.
A well-placed source, who spoke to this outlet on condition of anonymity alleged that many cases have been adjourned for the last two days Monday and Tuesday due to a power outage.
However, lawyer Reech explained that it is difficult for the judge to be in a courtroom without power.
“The power has almost two days since yesterday up to today, there is no power and it is difficult for the judge to continue in the courtroom without power,” he explained.
He highlighted that should there be power, he would seek a judge’s approval to fix a new date. Mr. Reech was also hopeful that the electricity would be back soon.
“We are expecting power to be available today or tomorrow,” he noted.
“The next sitting we will fix it, judge, is in the courtroom if the judge comes tomorrow, we fix a day and we will let you know,” he affirmed.
In October last year, UAP and its national staff were in dispute over unfair treatment and differing wages for nationals compared to their foreign expatriate counterparts.
That forced about 70 national staff to stage a sit-in-strike, bringing the UAP insurance business to a standstill.
UAP insurance company thereafter dismissed at least ten national staff for calling for improved pay, contrary to the Ministry of Labor’s order calling for the reinstatement of 10 fired staff.
This, however, forced the UAP National Staff Association (UNSA) to initiate a legal case against the Insurer Company.