Activists challenges legality of Ruto’s Cabinet after gender balance ruling

Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah and two activists have asked the High Court to bar Cabinet Secretaries from exercising executive powers, saying President William Ruto failed to obey a court order on gender balance.

The petition filed at the High Court in Milimani, Nairobi, seeks orders barring 25 members of the national Executive, including the President, Deputy President, Attorney-General and 22 Cabinet Secretaries, from performing official duties and blocking their salaries.

Mr Omtatah, together with Eliud Karanja Matindi and Dr Magare Gikenyi, also wants the Controller of Budget stopped from authorising salaries and benefits for the officials, arguing that they no longer have legal authority to hold office or exercise executive powers.

The case follows a June 30 judgment which found that the Cabinet breached the constitutional requirement that neither gender should occupy more than two-thirds of an appointive public body.

The judges counted 25 members: the President, Deputy President, Attorney-General and 22 Cabinet Secretaries. Eighteen were men and seven women, two short of the minimum nine women needed.

The court directed the President to make appointments that comply with the gender parity rule within 120 days. The deadline expired on October 28.

The new petition says no corrective appointments had been made, leaving Kenya without a constitutionally established national executive.

“As a consequence of this failure, there is currently no constitutional national executive and Cabinet of the Republic,” the petition states. The petitioners further contend that the officials “ceased to be members of the national executive and Cabinet by operation of law” following the judgment.

They want the court to declare that Cabinet members’ positions ended on June 30 and their continued exercise of official powers is unlawful.

The applicants also want Cabinet decisions made since that day declared invalid and the ministers ordered to refund public money received as remuneration.

The applicants also want the ministers barred from claiming executive status or exercising powers under the Constitution and other laws. They seek suspension of Executive Order No.1 of 2025, which assigns ministers responsibility for implementing Acts of Parliament.

They also seek repayment of remuneration received since June 30 and a declaration that the ministers are unfit for public office.

The petition also targets public appointments made by the Cabinet Secretaries, covering bodies including the Insurance Institute of Kenya Council, National Heroes Council, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital Board, universities and the Coffee Research and Training Institute.

The applicants cite the notices as proof that ministers continued exercising powers after the deadline.

The petition comes amid Attorney-General Dorcas Oduor’s efforts to suspend the June 30 judgment pending appeal.

The AG argues that the High Court’s decision could disrupt Cabinet operations and that the appeal could be rendered nugatory if the ordered changes are completed before judges decide whether the judgment was correct.

She says a stay order would defer the gender-representation remedy, but that corrective action could still be taken if the judgment is upheld.

The Court of Appeal has yet to determine the request, and the directions issued so far deal with service and written submissions.

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