{"id":14924,"date":"2020-09-25T18:55:21","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T18:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=14924"},"modified":"2020-09-25T18:55:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T18:55:21","slug":"relief-for-mps-as-court-suspends-maragas-order-on-dissolution-of-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/relief-for-mps-as-court-suspends-maragas-order-on-dissolution-of-parliament","title":{"rendered":"Relief for MPs as court suspends Maraga’s order on dissolution of parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author: PAUL OGEMBA<\/strong>
\nAfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> The High Court\u00a0has suspended a recommendation by Chief Justice David Maraga to dissolve Parliament.<\/p>\n

Members of Parliament can now breathe a sigh of relief after\u00a0Justice Weldon Korir ruled yesterday that it will be unfair to subject the country to an election without interrogating the legality of the recommendation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to observe that it is in the public interest not to subject the country to parliamentary elections before exhaustively interrogating the constitutionality of CJ\u2019s decision. Public interest, therefore, supports the issuance of an order suspending any decision to dissolve Parliament,\u201d ruled Korir.<\/p>\n

According to the judge, the Constitution does not provide a timeline for which the president can act on Justice Maraga\u2019s advice.<\/p>\n

He said if the CJ\u2019s action was not suspended, the president could take action which would be irreversible as the country will be plunged into another election cycle.<\/p>\n

He ruled that the petition by two activists\u00a0\u2013 Leina Konchellah and Mohsen Abdul \u2013 had raised weighty constitutional issues and directed that the file be sent to the CJ to appoint a bench of three judges to hear and determine it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am satisfied that the petitioners will suffer irreversible prejudice, which means the implementation of the CJ\u2019s advice to the president to dissolve Parliament stands suspended pending the hearing and determination of the application by a bench of not less than three judges,\u201d ruled Korir.<\/p>\n

He directed the activists to immediately serve the CJ, the Attorney General, Speaker of National Assembly and the Senate Speaker with the petition before the hearing on October 7.<\/p>\n

Acted like a court<\/strong><\/p>\n

Justice Korir also directed the activists to serve and enjoin the Law Society of Kenya and six other individuals who had petitioned the CJ to dissolve Parliament for failing to enact the two-thirds gender rule.<\/p>\n

Konchellah and Abdul, in their petition, argued that Justice Maraga illegally acted like a court and issued what reads like a court order when he has no such powers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear from the wording of his advisory to the president that he was influenced by outside forces to make the decision. The CJ is therefore guilty of gross misconduct as he failed to act independently and in accordance with the Constitution,\u201d they said through lawyer Muturi Mwangi.<\/p>\n

According to the activists,\u00a0Parliament\u00a0as currently constituted is constitutional and there is nothing that should warrant its dissolution.<\/p>\n

They argued that the two-thirds gender rule was not only about women since any move to create more positions for them will be discriminatory against other gender and special groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cDissolving Parliament would do more harm to the two-thirds gender representation objective since there will be no guarantee that the fresh elections will have more women elected. It is likely to result in worse gender representation, which will lead to more crisis,\u201d said the activists.<\/p>\n

They added that dissolving Parliament would do more harm than good to the country, including crippling the economy and provision of essential services that require Parliament\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

They were joined by lawyer Adrian Kamotho who filed a separate suit challenging the CJ\u2019s recommendation on account that it was illegal, unconstitutional and will plunge the country into anarchy if implemented.<\/p>\n

Kamotho submitted that dissolving Parliament was not as simple as the CJ thinks given the mandate the august House plays in the country\u2019s governance, adding he should have accorded the 416 legislators a fair hearing before reaching the drastic action.<\/p>\n

Key stakeholders<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe CJ\u2019s advice to the president is tainted with illegality, irrationality and impropriety. Justice Maraga overreacted in his decision without according key stakeholders a chance to table their opinions regarding the two-thirds gender rule,\u201d said Kamotho.<\/p>\n

According to Kamotho, it will be practically impossible to have an election should the president heed Justice Maraga\u2019s recommendations given the prevailing situation in the country.<\/p>\n

He submitted that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, as currently constituted with less than four commissioners, had no capacity to carry a countrywide election and that the persistent Covid-19 will make it impossible to conduct the elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author: PAUL OGEMBA AfricaPress-Kenya: The High Court\u00a0has suspended a recommendation by Chief Justice David Maraga to dissolve Parliament. Members of Parliament can now breathe a sigh of relief after\u00a0Justice Weldon Korir ruled yesterday that it will be unfair to subject the country to an election without interrogating the legality of the recommendation. \u201cIt is important […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":14925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[770,731,163],"class_list":["post-14924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-chief-justice-david-maraga","tag-high-court","tag-parliament"],"yoast_head":"\nRelief for MPs as court suspends Maraga's order on dissolution of parliament - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The High Court\u00a0has suspended a recommendation by Chief Justice David Maraga to dissolve Parliament.Members of Parliament\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/relief-for-mps-as-court-suspends-maragas-order-on-dissolution-of-parliament\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Relief for MPs as court suspends Maraga's order on dissolution of parliament\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The High Court\u00a0has suspended a recommendation by Chief Justice David Maraga to dissolve Parliament.Members of Parliament\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/relief-for-mps-as-court-suspends-maragas-order-on-dissolution-of-parliament\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-25T18:55:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/09\/relief_for_mps_as_co5f6cf3f1b5719.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"721\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"451\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/relief-for-mps-as-court-suspends-maragas-order-on-dissolution-of-parliament#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/relief-for-mps-as-court-suspends-maragas-order-on-dissolution-of-parliament\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Relief for MPs as court suspends Maraga’s order on dissolution of parliament\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-25T18:55:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/relief-for-mps-as-court-suspends-maragas-order-on-dissolution-of-parliament\"},\"wordCount\":694,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/relief-for-mps-as-court-suspends-maragas-order-on-dissolution-of-parliament#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/09\/relief_for_mps_as_co5f6cf3f1b5719.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Chief Justice David Maraga\",\"High Court\",\"Parliament\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/relief-for-mps-as-court-suspends-maragas-order-on-dissolution-of-parliament#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/relief-for-mps-as-court-suspends-maragas-order-on-dissolution-of-parliament\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/relief-for-mps-as-court-suspends-maragas-order-on-dissolution-of-parliament\",\"name\":\"Relief for MPs as court suspends Maraga's order on dissolution of parliament - 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