A petitioner on Friday moved to court seeking orders to bar a section of President William Ruto's cabinet nominees from appointment as ministers.
The petition filed by the Executive Director of the Commission for Human Rights and Justice sought to stop the assumption of office by four Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party members who were recently nominated by Ruto.
According to the petitioner, the appointment of John Mbadi, James Wandayi, Ali Hassan Joho and Wycliffe Oparanya would destabilise the role of the opposition whose function was to keep the government on its toes.
While seeking orders, the petitioner argued the opposition was constitutionally recognised and thus nominating the four would pose an imbalance within the opposition.
He further argued that the entire citizenry of Kenya stood to suffer great prejudice and a violation and infringement of their Constitutional Rights by allowing the opposition to join the government.
"The nomination and appointment of the Interested Parties into the cabinet and/or government as secretaries shall conflict with their constitutional duty bestowed upon the opposition party," the petitioner argued.
"This shall also conflict with their constitutional duty bestowed upon the opposition party by the people of Kenya and the constitution to oversight the government."
The petitioner also demanded that an order be issued stopping the process of vetting the four ODM members for the position of cabinet secretaries.
"It is thus fair and just that the matter be heard on a priority basis and the orders sought to be granted to protect the constitution from its violation by the Respondents," stated the Director of the Commission for Human Rights and Justice.
The latest development comes hardly two days after President William Ruto announced the nomination of the second batch of cabinet secretaries.
The Head of State while addressing the press at State House in Nairobi, nominated ODM’s John Mbadi (Treasury), Opiyo Wandayi (Energy and Petroleum) Ali Hassan Joho to Mining and Wycliffe Oparanya to the Ministry of Co-operatives.
Ruto's decision to nominate the opposition leaders to his administration comes a fortnight after he vowed to come up with an inclusive government which he termed as broad-based.
