This archive report was first published on 8 October 2019.
On October 7, 2019, the High Court gave Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma two days to respond to a petition filed against Kenya's ambassador nominee to South Korea, Mwende Mwinzi.
According to the court, the Attorney General's office had not received any instructions from CS Juma to represent and file submissions on Mwinzi's behalf.
Appearing before Justice James Makau, the AG's office asked for 14 days to file their submissions and an application to have the matter heard by a three-judge bench.
“The matter raises serious questions of law and 14 days will enable us get instructions on whether to ask court to refer the matter to the CJ to empanel a bench to hear the matter,” the court heard.
Mwinzi had filed a case in court seeking to have the Government send her to South Korea without requiring her to denounce her American citizenship.
She argued that recommendations by a departmental committee that she renounce her U.S. citizenship were illegal, null and void.
Her nomination by President Uhuru Kenyatta for the South Korean post in May 2019 had been approved by MPs on June 6, but with a caveat: that she renounce her American citizenship.
