The High Court has ruled that President William Ruto constitutionally acted right to appoint politicians affiliated to the opposition to the cabinet, after a petition was filed to block the appointment of the leaders over claims that it undermines constitutional orders.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

In a judgement delivered on Tuesday, July 7, a three-judge bench set at the Milimani Law Courts rejected a petition challenging the nomination, vetting and appointment of opposition-affiliated politicians into the Cabinet following President William Ruto's decision to dissolve his Cabinet in July 2024 at the height of the anti-Finance Bill protests.

The petitioners, including Katiba Institute and Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah, among others, argued that the inclusion of opposition leaders in the cabinet violated the constitution and weakened Kenya's multi-party democracy.

However, in a majority decision of two against one, the judges held that political affiliation is not a constitutional disqualification for appointment as a Cabinet Secretary.

📌 What You Need to Know

This means that President Ruto acted within the constitution to appoint National Treasury CS John Mbadi, Wycliffe Oparanya of Cooperatives, Opiyo Wandayi of Energy, Hassan Joho of Mining, and Beatrice Askul of gender, who were all affiliated with the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party by the time they were named to the cabinet.

According to the court, the constitution does not recognise an official opposition as a constitutional institution, meaning the president is not barred from appointing members of opposition parties to serve in government.

During the ruling, the judges also addressed the legality of Ruto's decision to reappoint CSs after dissolving the cabinet in 2024, stating that the president was right to make the reappointments.

According to the ruling, dismissal under Article 152(5)(b) of the constitution did not automatically render the affected Cabinet Secretaries ineligible for future appointment.

The judges found that the dissolution of the cabinet was a political and administrative reorganisation rather than a disciplinary action and that no violations of Chapter Six of the Constitution relating to leadership and integrity had been established against the reappointed Cabinet Secretaries.

The ruling comes days after the court ruled that Ruto's cabinet is unconstitutiona l since it does not uphold the two-thirds gender rule as outlined in the constitution.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke