A High Court has suspended the implementation of the National Dialogue Committee report (NADCO) following a case filed challenging the same.
The sitting in the Kiambu Court noted that the report will be on hold until the hearing and determination of the case filed by activist Michael Muchemi.
According to the petitioner, the submission of the dialogue report threatens the country’s rule of law, citing sections of the final report.
Muchemi further argued that a portion of the report calling for an audit of the 2022 general election results falls outside the constitutional framework, as it cannot overturn the decision made by the Supreme Court.
The petition also highlighted that the Supreme Court has the authority to adjudicate disputes and decide elections.
The ruling issued by Lady Justice Dora Chepkwony suspended the implementation of the report currently under consideration by Parliament. It prohibited the second and third respondents from convening any session to discuss, approve, adopt, or appoint a panel to execute chapter two of the report.
"If this application is not treated as extremely urgent and certified as such, the underlying constitutional concerns raised in the pleadings below may remain unaddressed,” the court documents read.
"Upon considering the grounds on the face of the application together with the affidavit sworn it is hereby ordered that the application be and is hereby certified as urgent and that the application be and is hereby allowed. This means that the process that began in parliament to implement the report stops forthwith."
The NADCO committee, chaired by National Assembly Majority leader Kimani Ichung'wah and Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka, presented the report to both President William Ruto and Azimio leader Raila Odinga on March 8.
The report has encountered significant obstacles in the past, including the failure of DAP-Kenya party leader Eugene Wamalwa, a member of the committee, to sign the final draft.
According to Wamalwa, the committee failed to address the audit of the 2022 electoral process, the restructuring of the IEBC and the cost of living crisis that is currently biting Kenyans.
“As you are aware, I had already publicly declined to sign the said report after a serious disagreement arose over the failure to address the fundamental issue of reduction of the cost of living. I also declined to accept any payments from the said process,” Wamalwa noted in a letter to the Parliament clerks.
