This archive report was first published on 20 June 2020.
On May 11, 2020, President Uhuru Kenyatta issued an Executive Order titled 'The Organisation of Government', which has sparked controversy and led to a court challenge by the Law Society of Kenya.
The Law Society of Kenya has filed a case in the High Court, challenging the legality of the Executive Order, which allegedly seeks to place the Judiciary, commissions, and independent offices under ministries and government departments.
The case, which has been certified as urgent by Justice James Makau, lists the Attorney General and Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua as respondents and the Judicial Service Commission as an interested party.
Through their lawyers, Manwa Hosea and Arnold Ochieng, the LSK argues that the Executive Order is unconstitutional, as it seeks to restructure and assign functions to other arms of government and independent commissions.
The LSK claims that the Executive Order offends the principles of the constitution, the doctrine of separation of powers, democracy, and the independence of constitutional offices.
"Where the law exhaustively provides for the jurisdiction of a body or an authority, it must operate within the limits of the law and ought not to expand its jurisdiction through administrative crafts or innovation," said the LSK.
The institutions affected by the disputed directive include the Judiciary, the Public Service Commission, the Teachers Service Commission, the National Police Service Commission, the Parliamentary Service Commission, the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions, the National Land Commission, and the Office of the Controller of Budget.
Others affected include the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the Commission on Revenue Allocation, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and the National Gender and Equality Commission.
The LSK has termed the case a public interest matter and wants the High Court to urgently intervene by suspending the implementation of the Executive Order.
