Court throws out petition against vetting of CS Keter, Kazungu

The High Court has declined to grant orders to restrain Speaker of the National Assembly and the vetting committee from vetting and carrying out an approval hearing for Kericho County Senator Charles Keter and Malindi MP Dan Kazungu for the positions of Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Mining respectively.

This follows a petition by an activist, Patrick Njuguna who had moved to court earlier seeking to stop the vetting of the two saying it is a contravention of the Constitution.

In his petition, Njuguna indicated that their nomination, while currently serving as members of parliament, contravenes Article 152(3) of the Constitution which prohibits the appointment of MPs for Cabinet positions.

The activist who was before High court Judge Isaac Lenaola further added that nomination of the two will lead to by-elections that will cost the already over-burdened taxpayers with over Sh1 billion to be used in the exercises as estimated by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

President Uhuru Kenyatta last month made a major cabinet reshuffle in what he termed as re-organisation of the government to ensure effective and efficient service delivery.

Kericho Senator Charles Keter was nominated to the Cabinet as Energy CS taking over from Davis Chirchir who was suspended eight months ago over corruption allegations.

Google Sub-Saharan Africa Ambassador and Country Manager for Kenya Joe Mucheru was nominated as the Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) taking over from Fred Matiang’i who was appointed as the CS for Education.

Matiang’i replaced Prof Jacob Kaimenyi who is now Ministry of Lands Cabinet Secretary.

Kenya Seed Company Managing Director Willy Bett was nominated the CS for Agriculture replacing Felix Koskei who was suspended over graft allegations while Malindi MP Dan Kazungu nominated as Mining CS replacing Najib Balala who has been moved to the Ministry of Tourism in the same Capacity.