High Court judge Nduma Nderi has extended the injunction preventing the National Assembly from vetting the 51 Principal Secretary nominees.
Even so, the court refused to vacate the orders, stating that the issue of jurisdiction should be decided first on November 29.
The vetting of police officers was halted last week by the High Court pending the outcome of a case filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK).
Two other cases with similar facts were filed and consolidated.
Parliament has filed a preliminary objection in the case, claiming that the Employment and Labor Relations Court lacks jurisdiction to hear the Petitions.
According to the application, the disputes do not fall under Article 162(2) of the Constitution or Section 12 of the Employment and Labor Relations Court Act.
While seeking to have the orders reversed, the assembly notes that there is a mechanism in place to address the disputes raised in the consolidated petitions.
“If the vetting is not completed within 28 days, the nominees will be in office automatically,” the court was told.
At the same time, the court was informed that Attorney General Justin Muturi has filed an appeal with the court of appeals, requesting that the orders be reversed. The case will be heard by the court of appeals tomorrow.
The AG argues in the appeal that parliament had issued invitations and that processing the nominees would potentially result in a brazen and avoidable waste of public funds that had already been allocated for the purposes of vetting and processing the PSs if the process was terminated midway.
According to the Ag, the orders have rendered parliament’s operations in relation to its constitutional mandate to conduct vetting of nominated PSs indefinitely ineffective.
