In a dramatic twist of events, the High Court has suspended Chief Justice David Maraga’s advisory to dissolve parliament after a petition was filed by two Kenyans.
The case was filed by Leina Konchella and Mohsen Abdul Munasar, and heard by Justice Weldon Korir, who said the matter has raised weighty constitutional issues.
“It is also important to observe that it is in the public interest not to subject the country to parliamentary elections before exhaustively interrogating the constitutionality of the decision of the chief justice. The public interest therefore supports the issuance of conservatory orders,”.
In their petition, Leina and Abdula called for the invalidation of the advisory, for being “unreasonable, irrational and irresponsible”.
The duo questioned its implementation and whether the country, that is writhing from the damages caused by the COVID-19 is in a position to enact the constitutional rule.
Justice Korir said the Maraga’s decision is expected to trigger action by the president without any further steps being taken, adding that once the president acts on the advisory the petition would be rendered nugatory.
“It is therefore clear that failure to issue orders will highly prejudice the applicants,” the statement further read.
The move comes barely hours after the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) demanded that the President dissolves the Houses of Parliament for failing to enact the two-thirds gender rule.
“The President of the Republic of Kenya is duty bound to dissolve Parliament… Regardless of the President’s action or inaction Parliament will be unlawful effective of October 12, 2020. The consequence of this is that any legislative authority exercised by Parliament thereafter will be without the authority of the people of Kenya,” said Havi.
