The High Court on Monday, February 15 halted the takeover of the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) by the Ministry of Defence, an order that had been issued by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
While making the ruling, Judge Antony Charo Mrima cited irregularities in the president's order citing the lack of public participation.
“The decision to re-assign the ministerial responsibility from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation to the Ministry of Defence is in violation of Article 10 of the Constitution for want of Public participation succeeds,” read the ruling in parts.
The court also said that the decision could only be effected through an amendment of the Kenya Meat Commission Act which was last revised in 2012.
The judge also noted that by executing the president's order, the government would bec commercializing the Ministry of Defence which is contrary to the constitution.
Mrima gave the government 90 days to regularize the situation as the order had already been implemented and budgetary allocation processed.
Following these reasons, the court thereby squashed the Executive order number 3 of 2020.
The president's preference for military leadership manifested in 2020 during the pandemic when he formed the Nairobi Metropolitan Service headed by General Mohamed Abdalla Badi.
The NMS boss has been running the county’s key functions which were also affected by the impeachment of former governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko in December 2020.
The president has turned to the military in his last term in office with an aim of completing his legacy projects.
In one of his Nairobi CBD tours, the president expressed admiration for the way the military has handled the civilian tasks given to the armed forces.
“If all of us operated and behaved, loved and served their country in the manner in which the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) does, Kenya would today be a great country. And we all have a big lesson to learn,” Uhuru said.
The president has in the past placed military personnel strategically at the Kenya Railways Corporations, Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS), Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the
