Director-General of Nairobi Metropolitan Service Maj-Gen Mohammed Badi has been prohibited from attending cabinet committee meetings.
This is after the High Court in Nairobi declared President Uhuru Kenyatta’s decision to appoint Badi into the Cabinet unconstitutional.
Justice Anthony Mrima said the basis for which the decision to include Badi into the Cabinet was not clear, therefore, lacks transparency.
“A declaration is hereby issued that the decisions to appoint and include Major General Badi into the business of the cabinet with liberty to attend cabinet meetings and Cabinet committee meeting contravenes Article 3(2), 10(2)129,130, and 152(1)of the constitution and is illegal and void,” Mrima ruled.
Mrima said that there is no provision in the constitution that grants the President any powers to appoint anyone into the cabinet.
“If Kenyans had wanted to credit the President with the discretion to appoint any other person or persons into the Cabinet, I believe the Kenyans would have expressly stated so in the Constitution,” he said.
The judge pointed out that the general appointment was not approved by Parliament.
He also dismissed Attorney General Kihara’s argument that the Constitution gave the President a leeway to invite any Kenyan to sit in the cabinet.
“I find the interpretation by the Respondents legally untenable, too far-fetched and not in tandem with the aspirations of Kenyans. If Kenyans had wanted to credit the President with the discretion to appoint any other person or persons into the Cabinet, I believe the Kenyans would have expressly stated so in the constitution,” he ruled.
Mrima’s ruling comes after Kandara Member of Parliament Alice Wahome filed a case challenging Badi’s appointment.
According to Wahome, Badi’s appointment to the Cabinet was not in line with the Constitution.
On September 10, 2020, Badi took the oath of secrecy to facilitate his attendance to Cabinet meeting.
He was tasked with the responsibility of transforming the city and given 100 days to deal with corruption and dismantle cartels that have held the city at ransom for years.