Governors have rushed to court in a bid to have the requirement for governors who are facing criminal charges to be barred from accessing their offices quashed. 

The county bosses, through the Council of Governors (CoG), filed a petition in court in which they sought protection from being denied access to their offices after being charged with graft. 

CoG listed the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) as respondents in the case filed at the High Court. 

Justice James Makau directed that a proper guidance on the hearing of the petition be issued by a three-judge bench on October 21 after certifying the matter as urgent on Monday. 

High Court Judge Mumbi Ngugi upheld a magistrate court decision barring Samburu governor Moses Lenolkulal from accessing his office, this set in motion the condition to bar county bosses from office once charged with graft. 

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In her ruling, Justice Ngugi argued that permitting public officials who are facing criminal charges to access their public offices entrenched graft and impunity in the country. 

Justice Ngugi ordered that Lenolkulal only accesses his office with written permission from EACC, in the ruling that later affected former Kiambu governor Ferdinand Waititu, Nairobi’s Mike Sonko and Migori’s Okoth Obado. 

Tharaka Nithi’s Muthomi Njuki was recently barred from accessing office after being charged with a Sh34 million corruption case and Garissa’s Ali Korane, who was charged with misusing Sh233 million.