Relief for AfriCOG as court stops shutdown order

The High Court on Monday quashed an order to close down operations of the Africa Center for Open Governance (AfriCOG), and further ordered the Central Bank not to freeze bank accounts belonging to the non-governmental organisation.

Justice George Odunga also barred the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from arresting and instituting criminal proceedings under the NGO Act relating to the activities and operations of AfriCOG.

This comes after a decision by NGO Coordination Board Executive Director Fazul Mahamed in August to deregister AfriCOG on allegations of illegally operating in Kenya.

“I have said enough to show that the Notice of Motion dated 28th September 2017 is merited. I however agree that the Central Bank of Kenya  ought not to have been dragged into these proceedings. It is however clear that it was the NGO board misplaced letter that provoked that cause of events,” ruled Justice Odunga.

The orders were issued in a case in which AfriCOG, together with its directors led by Maina Kiai, moved to court seeking to stop the government from interfering with its operations.

AfriCOG had said that Fazul’s decision to close down the lobby group could not be reasonably justified in a democratic society.

“Fazul’s decisions have been made in excess or without jurisdiction and are bad in law,” they claimed.

The lobby group had petitioned the court to quash the NGO Coordination Board’s directive to close down its operations and further sought to stop arrests and commencement of criminal prosecutions in relation to the decision.

Respondents in the case were the Interior Cabinet Secretary, the Attorney General, the NGO Coordination Board, its Executive Director, Director of Criminal Investigations, CBK Governor and the DPP.

The Law Society of Kenya was also named as an interested party in the matter.

The petitioners included AfriCOG and its directors John Githongo, Maina Kiai, Dr. Fumni Olonisakin, Stella Chege, Donald Deya, Charles Wanguhu and Gladwell Otieno.