The High Court has issued an injunction barring the state from demolishing sanitiser booths erected in Nairobi by the Sonko Rescue Team (SRT).
The Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) associated with Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko had moved to court to protest demolition of its booths erected in various parts of Nairobi by police and officers said to be from the Ministry of Health.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe and his Interior counterpart Fred Matiang’i were named as respondents in the case.
In the orders granted on Tuesday, Justice Korir ordered that pending hearing and determination of the case the ministries of Interior and Health should not interfere with charity activities of the Organisation.
Consequently, the judge directed that no further demolitions should take place in areas including the Kencom bus stage, Mathare, Korogocho, Nyayo Estate, Greenspan, the area outside Kenyatta National Hospital and Buruburu shopping centres.
Read: Sonko Faults PS Kibicho Over Vandalized Public Sanitisation Booth In Kibra
Justice Korir also barred state agents and officials from stopping donation of foodstuff and face masks to residents of areas including Mathare, Kibra, Buruburu, Greenspan.
Through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, Sonko argued that the malicious damage of the booths should not be allowed as the Sonko Rescue Team is merely supplementing the government’s effort in fighting the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Kinyanjui stated that the organization had suffered a huge loss following the demolition of booths in Kibra, Kencom and Buruburu.
The rescue team says it put up the booths at a cost of Ksh400,000 and that it spent an equal amount in Mombasa County.
The lawyer further argued that the state’s activities were discriminatory as some groups of people had been allowed to go on with charity activities including donating relief food to the vulnerable and needy. Some of the individuals cited in the petition are Mama Ngina Kenyatta, ODM leader Raila Odinga and former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka.
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