A Nairobi-based lawyer moved to court seeking to stop President William Ruto from appointing any more advisors.
In a petition filed under certificate of urgency, Lawyer Suyianka Lempaa claimed that the growing number of presidential advisors amounts to what he terms as an unconstitutional creation of a “parallel civil service.”
Lempaa argued that the President has been flooding public offices with political appointees who were not subjected to competitive recruitment as required by law.
The lawyer wants the National Treasury barred from paying salaries and allowances to 21 named presidential advisors.
According to him, their positions are illegal and not supported by any statute or constitutional provision.
“That lack of a law and or regulations of how many advisors that the 1st Respondent can appoint is not a carte blench for him to saturate and inundate the public service with political appointees or political workers,” reads part of the petition.
Lempaa claimed the appointments contravenes the prudent use of public money.
He said some of the roles assigned to the so-called advisors, such as National Security Advisor, Governance Advisor, and Food Security Advisor are duplicative of existing public offices, and their creation did not follow proper legal procedures.
“Since the Kenya Kwanza government took over after the 2022 General Elections 1st Respondent has appointed a parallel civil service that is duplicative of the functions of the civil service,” said Lempaa.
The lawyer wants the court to certify the petition as raising substantial questions of law and forward it to the Chief Justice for empanelment of an uneven bench of judges.
He argues that the matter is urgent and touches on critical questions of governance and public finance.
Among those named as interested parties in the petition are former police chief Joseph Boinnet, economist David Ndii, and professors Makau Mutua, Edward Kisiang’ani, and Abdi Guliye, among others.
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