This archive report was first published on 15 June 2020.
On June 15, 2020, the High Court in Naivasha dealt a blow to the government's efforts to ban commercial donkey slaughter in Kenya. In a ruling that has sparked debate, the court quashed a legal notice issued by Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya in February 2020, which directed the management of four slaughterhouses to stop operations.
The court's decision was based on the argument that the legal notice violated the rights of the proprietors of the abattoirs under Article 47 of the Constitution. The owners of the four affected slaughterhouses - Star Brilliant (Naivasha), Goldox Kenya (Mogotio), Silzha (Turkana), and Fuhai (Machakos) - had moved to the High Court seeking a Judicial Review on the legal notice.
According to the court documents, the owners of Star Brilliant had invested millions in their operations and had received a notice from the State to stop their operations despite this. They argued that due to the notice, their export license had been cancelled, and they could no longer sell their product locally as per their license.
High Court Judge Richard Mwongo noted that the Attorney General and the Cabinet Secretary had failed to respond to the application, despite being served by the applicant. He ruled that the legal notice violated the rights of the applicant and granted the stay to operate in light of the failure by the respondent to file back his response.
Speaking on the issue, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya had noted that the number of donkeys in the country was on the decline while theft of the animals across the country had shot up. He stated that the theft and rampant slaughtering of donkeys had led to massive unemployment in areas where donkeys are the mainstay of residents.
