A lobby group has moved to court challenging the president’s decision to appoint four of Raila Odinga’s key allies John Mbadi, Hassan Joho, Opiyo Wandayi, and Wycliffe Oparanya into his Cabinet.
A petition filed at the Milimani High Court by the Commission for Human Rights through its director Julius Ogogoh wants the court to issue conservatory orders barring the four who were nominated by President William Ruto from being vetted and appointed as ministers pending the determination of his case.
He also seeks an order blocking the speaker of the national assembly from receiving any communication and transmitting the names of the four to Parliament for their vetting and consideration for nomination for appointment as cabinet secretaries.
“If successful, there shall be no presence of opposition in the National Assembly. There shall be no checks and balances and the executive and other arms of the government shall not be accountable to the people who delegated trust and obligation to serve,” he adds
According to the petitioner, the appointment of Mbadi, Wandayi, Joho and Oparanya would destabilise the role of the opposition whose function was to keep the government on its toes.
While seeking orders, the petitioner argued the opposition was constitutionally recognised and thus nominating the four would pose an imbalance within the opposition.
“Should any member of the parties forming the Azimio coalition be nominated and successfully appointed into the Cabinet, the opposition in the National Assembly stands to be conflicted,” reads the court papers.
Through lawyer Nicholas Kamwendwa, Ogogoh adds that the four have a constitutional duty to oversight the function of the executive and other arms of the government.
He further argued that the entire citizenry of Kenya stood to suffer great prejudice and a violation and infringement of their Constitutional Rights by allowing the opposition to join the government.
“The nomination and appointment of the Interested Parties into the cabinet and/or government as secretaries shall conflict with their constitutional duty bestowed upon the opposition party,” the petitioner argued.
“This shall also conflict with their constitutional duty bestowed upon the opposition party by the people of Kenya and the constitution to oversight the government.”
The latest development comes hardly two days after President William Ruto announced the nomination of the second batch of cabinet secretaries.
The Head of State while addressing the press at State House in Nairobi, nominated ODM’s John Mbadi (Treasury), Opiyo Wandayi (Energy and Petroleum) Ali Hassan Joho to Mining and Wycliffe Oparanya to the Ministry of Co-operatives.
Ruto’s decision to nominate the opposition leaders to his administration comes a fortnight after he vowed to come up with an inclusive government which he termed as broad-based.
