The Law Society of Kenya wants the High Court to declare Cabinet Secretaries for interior, education, transport, housing and environment unfit for holding public office.
This is in relation to the flooding situation in the country that has claimed more than 240 lives and displaced many.
In a petition lodged at Milimani High Court, LSK has accused the CSs of violating several rights of kenyans by failing to prepare or enforce a functional disaster management and emergency contingency plan to control, prevent and manage the adverse effects of the experienced floods.
“A declaration be and is hereby issued that the respondents’ actions and omissions in relation to the ongoing floods are a violation of Article 73 of the Constitution rendering them unfit to hold public office,” read court papers.
LSK says the CS’ abdicated the authority assigned to them by not acting on several advisories issued by their Environment and climate change colleague Soipan Tuya.
As a result, they violated the right to life, right to human dignity, right to housing and reasonable standards of sanitation, right to health, right to free from hunger, right to access important information affecting the nation, and right to property.
“.To the extent that over 24,484 household comprising of approximately 185, 297 persons have been internally displaced and are in dire need of both essential and non-essential food items is a breach of their constitutional right to human dignity under Article 28 as read to together with their right to housing and reasonable standards of sanitation, right to health, right to be free from hunger among other rights as espoused under Article 43 of the Constitution.”
The LSK says CS’ Kindiki, Ezekiel Machogu, Kipchumba Murkomen and Soipan Tuya did not disseminate risk mitigation measures to the general public inorder to raise awareness on the response protocol, precautionary measures and communication channels.
The lawyer body through their lawyer Bosire Geoffrey says several people have lost their properties due to the ongoing rains because there was no measure in place to protect the properties of Kenyan people.
He now wants the court to issue a mandatory injunction in form of structural interdict compelling the respondents in their respective ministries, “to prepare and present to the court for scrutiny, a contingency plan on prevention, surveillance, control and disaster response systems to avoid further loss of lives and property due to the ongoing flash floods.”
Further, he wants the court to declare that the respondents’ actions and omissions in relation to the currently experienced flash floods is a violation of article 26, 35, 40 and 43 of the constitution of Kenya.
Bosire alleges that the country is in a serious climatic crisis because of the heavy rainfall being experienced for more than a month now.
He noted that according to the Kenya Meteorological Department, heavy rainfall is likely to continue in some parts of the Highlands East and West of the Rift Valley, the Lake Victoria Basin, the Rift Valley, the South-eastern lowlands, the Coast, North-western and North-eastern Kenya.
He told the court that if the petition is not expedited, the government will continue with its ‘do nothing’ approach and make knee-jerk reactions to the crisis to the detriment of the people.