Blow to President Ruto as the High Court revokes his appointment of 50 Chief Administrative Secretaries on account of lack of public participation.
Two of the three Judges (Justices Kanyi Kimondo and Visram Alnashir ) ruled that the appointment of the 50 CAS violated Section 27 of the Public Service Commission Act hence null and void.
“The procedure of establishing an office in the public service Commission has a basis in the Constitution…in undertaking that procedure, the president and the public service commission must be guided by the Constitution.” Ruled Justice Kimondo.
“The office of CAS lies somewhere between CS and PS which undergo Parliament petting…pursuant to the gazette notice, the CAS were placed in a higher job group that the PS. We find that whereas the president has the power to create additional positions in the public service commission, the appointment has to undergo Parliament petting” proceeded Justice Kimondo.
The judges further ruled that it was not the intention of the framers of the Constitution to have 50 Chief Administrative Secretaries deputising 22 Cabinet Secretaries.
On the issue of financial implications for the creation of the 50 CAS posts, the Court concluded that PSC proposed a higher salary to the CAS than that of the PS without proper consultation of the SRC.
The majority of judges in the bench hearing a constitutional petition challenging the appointment of 50 CAS by President Ruto ruled that there was no sufficient public participation on the side of the public service commission to create additional 27 posts for the CAS, hence creation of additional 27 posts was unconstitutional.
However, Lady Justice Hedwing Ong’udi in her dissenting minority judgement said the creation of the additional 27 posts in the office of CAS was properly constituted in Law.
She ruled that the number of posts for the office of Chief Administrative Secretary is not explicitly provided for in Law giving the president latitude to appoint any number h3 so deems fit.
The consolidated petition challenged the Constitutionality of establishing the office of the chief administrative office.
According to the Petitioners, the president unilaterally created an additional 27 posts in the office of the CAS contrary to the Law.
The petitioner further alluded that the creation of the 27 extra position added burden to the tax payer.
He further argued that appointment of the CAS was a misappropriation of Public funds.
The petitioners question the exercise of the presidential power in establishing 50 positions in the office of the CAS.
