Multiple Hauliers East Africa Limited has opened a fresh legal battle against NCBA Bank Kenya after accusing the lender of illegally appointing two PricewaterhouseCoopers officials as joint administrators of the troubled transport company.

In a public notice dated July 28, 2026, Multiple Hauliers objected to the appointment of Muniu Thoithi and George Weru, arguing that NCBA lacked the legal authority required to take control of its operations.

The company said NCBA does not hold a qualifying floating charge under Section 534 of the Insolvency Act, meaning the bank cannot unilaterally appoint administrators without first obtaining a court order permitting the move.

Multiple Hauliers said it had issued cease and desist demands requiring Thoithi and Weru to stop presenting themselves as administrators, maintaining that every decision made under their appointment remains unlawful and open to challenge.

The transport company has filed an application before the High Court challenging both the appointments and the legal grounds relied upon by NCBA when it attempted to place the business under administration.

The company warned its customers, suppliers, bankers and other stakeholders against sharing information with the disputed administrators or involving them in transactions that are already underway or being negotiated.

Multiple Hauliers further warned Thoithi, Weru and PricewaterhouseCoopers that they would be held jointly and individually responsible for any losses caused by actions taken under appointments the company considers unlawful.

The dispute comes only days after the High Court halted proceedings connected to the company’s administration and liquidation cases, finding that an existing Court of Appeal stay applied to the consolidated insolvency proceedings.

That order raises serious questions about why NCBA proceeded with fresh appointments during an active court fight concerning the same company, its debts, its creditors and control over its business.

NCBA has been pursuing about Sh7.2 billion from Multiple Hauliers, whose wider financial troubles include debts reported at more than Sh31.4 billion against assets valued at approximately Sh17 billion.

The bank previously placed Multiple Hauliers under administration in June 2021 and appointed Ernst and Young officials Anthony Makenzi Muthusi and Julius Mumo Ngonga to take control of the company’s affairs.

The latest confrontation adds another damaging chapter to NCBA’s record of bitter disputes involving aggressive debt recovery, vehicle repossessions, customer complaints, contested property sales and court battles with borrowers.

NCBA has built a major asset finance operation, but the same business has attracted complaints from borrowers who accuse the lender of moving quickly to repossess and auction vehicles during periods of financial difficulty.

Customers have repeatedly questioned loan balances, penalty charges, auction procedures and the prices obtained from repossessed vehicles, creating concern that distressed borrowers may lose their assets and remain burdened with unpaid balances.

The bank has faced separate data protection complaints before the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, including determinations concerning the processing, accuracy, correction and handling of customers’ personal and financial information.

NCBA’s reputation was further damaged by the controversial tax exemptions granted during the 2019 merger between Commercial Bank of Africa and NIC Bank, which created the present banking group.

The merger received exemptions covering stamp duty and capital gains tax, saving the newly formed lender hundreds of millions of shillings at a time ordinary Kenyans and smaller businesses were being pursued for taxes.

The High Court later quashed a Sh384.5 million stamp duty exemption granted to NCBA, finding that the decision to excuse the bank from paying the tax was not made in the public interest.

NCBA later lost its attempt to stop enforcement of that judgment, leaving the bank exposed to the tax demand and renewing questions about the political connections behind the original waiver.

The Lands Ministry was previously faulted by the High Court for withholding information explaining how the NIC and Commercial Bank of Africa merger received the tax exemption in the first place.

The secrecy surrounding the waiver strengthened public suspicion that NCBA benefited from privileged treatment linked to the powerful Kenyatta family, whose Commercial Bank of Africa was one of the merging institutions.

NCBA now finds itself fighting another company over claims that it exercised powers it did not legally possess, bringing back questions about whether connected institutions believe ordinary commercial and legal limits apply differently to them.

The bank and the appointed administrators had not publicly answered the accusations contained in the Multiple Hauliers notice by the time this article was prepared for publication.

The High Court will now be asked to decide whether NCBA possessed a qualifying floating charge, whether the appointments were valid and whether Thoithi and Weru can legally exercise authority over Multiple Hauliers.

Until that dispute is settled, NCBA must explain why it attempted to install administrators during an active legal battle, rather than allowing the courts to determine who has lawful control over the company.