The High Court on Monday temporarily suspended the fresh vetting of licensed fire-arm holders in Kenya.
The ruling was delivered in a case filed by officials of the National Gun Owners Association against Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i.
A 90-day verification of all firearm certificates was scheduled to begin this week.
Gun owners had accused the CS of usurping the powers of the Firearms and Licensing Board in issuing the directive.
Matiang'i on December 5 directed gun owners to report in person before the board with their weapon for fresh vetting.
They would then be given an electronic issuance certificate.
The gun owners had also argued that the composition of the board supposed to vet them was unlawful.
“Section 3 (2) (c) of the Firearms Act mandates that the Board must include one representative from a private members group of lawfully-registered gun owners and as there is no such representative appointed, the Board as currently constituted is contra statute,” NGAO asserted.
NGAO was also up in arms over Matiangi's move to declare the Sterling-Patchett MK5, CZ Scorpion Evo 3 and MP5 as prohibited weapons.
They explained that while the CS had powers to do so under the Firearms act, it was not gazetted as Matiamg'i only issued a statement on December 5.
