NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 15 – The High Court on Thursday declined to issue temporary orders suspending the implementation of National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC) guidelines on public gatherings.
Justice Antony Murima has however certified a petition filed by the Law Society of Kenya as urgent and directed parties in the case to file their responses by close of business on Friday to facilitate an interpates hearing.
“I will not consider the request for interim orders at this point in time until the respondents are heard,” Justice Murima ruled.
Noting that the matter was fixed for directions by Judge Weldon Korir, the court held that the matter would proceed to full hearing before any orders can be issued.
“The order of the court was clear and that the matter was to be fixed before him for directions on the hearing.”
LSK had contested the new security measures issued by NSAC and approved by the Cabinet to regulate public gatherings terming them unreasonable.
Among the orders LSK is seeking include restraining the Inspector General of Police, acting by himself or agents under his command, from seeking to license holding of public gatherings, meetings and processions, banning, disrupting or interfering with peaceful public gathering, meetings and processions.
LSK filed the petition ahead of its October 12 ‘Occupy Parliament’ march which failed to materialize.
The body’s President Nelson Havi instead presented a written memorandum to Parliamentary leadership which he said qualified as a notice for the current membership of Parliament to vacate.
LSK petition was in support for Chief Justice David Maraga’s advice to the President to dissolve Parliament over its failure to legislate laws to operationalize the constitutional requirement that set’s a two-thirds gender balance rule for public body.
The two-thirds law requires that no gender occupies more than two thirds of positions in any given body, including legislative assemblies.
Maraga wrote to President Uhuru Kenyatta on September 22 asking him to dissolve Parliament over the continued violation of the two thirds gender representation rule.
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