Within one year, the government has lost nearly 10 cases brought before the law courts including the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), Huduma Namba, Minimum tax, the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), the appointment of the Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS) among others.
These decisions, according to legal minds, reveal the fact that the AG is either overwhelmed or not giving the best legal opinions on such key matters.
The Friday October 15, 2021 judgment by Justice Anthony Mrima is among the cases that have seen President Uhuru’s administration dealt with a heavy blow.
In his ruling, Mrima declared that the amendment of the Election Act by Parliament in 2015 was unconstitutional, saying it is unfair to bar MCAs aspirants without university degrees to vie for various seats.
His decision comes a day after the government lost another case on Huduma Namba where the court declared the rollout of the card last year as illegal and unconstitutional.
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On Thursday last week, Justice Jairus Ngaah of the High Court Judicial Review Division ruled that the government did not conduct a data protection impact assessment before rolling out Huduma Cards.
In July this year, the High Court also overturned an order by President Uhuru Kenyatta seeking to place independent offices under his authority, an action that strained the relationship between the judiciary and the executive.
On May 27, the same High Court, in a judgment by three judges, declared the president’s June 2018 parastatal appointments unconstitutional.
Three judges said that the appointment by the head of state, which featured key political losers and former government officials was made without following the law.
Prominent names that President Kenyatta’s appointment was, retired Chief Defence Forces Gen Julius Karangi, former Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Chairman Mudzo Nzil, former Mombasa gubernatorial candidate Suleiman Shahbal, former governors Benjamin Cheboi (Baringo), Doyo Godana (Isiolo) among others.
In April, the President was also hit with a heavy blow after the High Court Judge Mrima declared the position of Chief Administrative Officer (CAS) introduced in 2017 as null and void.
President Kenyatta with his ODM leader Raila Odinga suffered another setback in May 2021 when a five –judge bench comprising Justice Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Chacha Mwita, Teresia Matheka and Jairus Ngaa stopped the BBI initiative.
This is after the judges termed the process as null and void putting an end to the proposed constitutional amendments.
The Court of Appeal then upheld the decision by the High Court to declare.
Similarly, in September, the High Court blocked Director-General of Nairobi Metropolitan Services Maj-Gen Mohammed Badi out of the cabinet.
Justice Mrima dismissed Badi’s appointment to the cabinet and barred him from attending meetings called by either cabinet committees or for full cabinet meetings.
Currently, there are so many other cases pending in court by different parties challenging the government’s actions for failure to comply with the constitution.
Among the cases that are the dissolution of the nation’s parliament on its failure to meet the country’s two-thirds gender rule.
