High Court Suspends Ruto’s Push for e-Citizen Integration
The High Court has issued an order halting President William Ruto’s directive that required 34 parastatal heads to transition their services to the e-Citizen platform. This decision delivers a setback to the President’s push for the digitization of government services.
In a ruling delivered on Tuesday, December 10, at the Milimani High Court in Nairobi, Justice Bahati Mwamuye instructed the suspension of Ruto’s directive until further hearings are conducted.
“Pending the inter partes hearing and determination of the application dated December 5, 2024, a conservatory order is hereby issued suspending the implementation and operation of the directive issued on November 28, 2024, compelling the 1st to 34th Interested Parties to compulsorily onboard and/or migrate to the e-Citizen Services Platform,” read part of Justice Mwamuye’s ruling.
The court’s intervention followed a petition filed by Kituo cha Sheria, a legal aid group, and Hillary Mokaya, a private citizen. They argued that the directive was unconstitutional, citing the lack of public consultation as required by the Constitution.
The petitioners expressed concerns that members of the public who lack access to technology could fall victim to exploitation by intermediaries. Furthermore, they argued that Ruto exceeded his powers by compelling parastatal heads to implement the changes within a week, bypassing the statutory authority of their respective boards.
“Ruto’s directive and its implementation contravene the law, which places the responsibility of managing the entities on their boards, councils, or commissions,” the petitioners stated.
The High Court also barred the President from taking disciplinary action against any of the parastatal chiefs for non-compliance with his directive.
“Pending the inter partes hearing and determination of the application dated December 5, 2024, a conservatory order is hereby issued prohibiting the removal from office of the 35th to 68th Interested Parties or the initiation or continuation of any disciplinary action against them based on their failure to implement or operationalize the directive,” the court ruled.
Justice Mwamuye further directed that the petitioners serve the court orders to the Office of the President and all involved parties by Wednesday, December 13.
The directive, issued on November 28, had warned parastatal directors against undermining the government’s digitization agenda. President Ruto accused some of these officials of non-transparency and mismanagement of public funds. Agencies mentioned included the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), and Kenya Power Company (KPLC).
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High Court Suspends Ruto’s Push for e-Citizen Integration
