High Court dissolves county board over gender rule breach
The High Court has confirmed its previous decision to dissolve Meru County Public Service Board because it didn't follow the two-thirds gender rule.
The High Court has affirmed an earlier decision dissolving the Meru County Public Service Board for not adhering to the two thirds gender rule. Justice Hesbon Nyaga upheld Justice Linus Kassan's judgement in May last year where he declared the board illegally constituted and gave them six months to comply.
In September 2024, Justice Kassan directed Governor Kawira Mwangaza to appoint a selection committee to recruit a board that was compliant with the Constitution.
However, the board members immediately filed an application for the setting aside of the ruling.
In their application, the six; Julius Mitu, Justus Arithi, Hellen Nkirote, Martin Mutuma, Julius Gitonga and Virginia Kawira told the court that the board was duly constituted with four male and two female members. They further argued that the replacement of a member whose term ended in December 2023, was underway.
But the petitioner termed the application an attempt to derail the implementation of the judgement.
In his ruling, Justice Nyaga observed that the applicants were inviting the court to look into issues that were considered in the earlier judgement.
"Looking at the application, one gets the feeling that the applicants are actually dissatisfied with the judgement and subsequent ruling of the court ordering the dissolution of the board... I cannot sit to examine the propriety of judgement or ruling of a court presided over by a judge of concurrent jurisdiction." Justice Mbogo stated.
He noted that the board had neither made any attempt to comply with the earlier judgement nor appeal the decision.
"....If there was no compliance with the judgement then the board was and is still non-compliant with the Constitution. Even if the orders of 19th September 2024 are to be set aside, the fact remains that there is a finding that the Board as constituted is non-compliant..." the judge added.
Justice Nyaga dismissed the application to set aside the orders declaring the county public service board unconstitutional.
He ruled that the composition of the board violates the provisions of Articles 27 (8) and 175 (c) of Constitution.
The constitutional petition challenging the composition of the board (five men and one woman) was filed by lawyer Earnest Kimaita.
Last month, the county public service board was embroiled in a tussle with the governor over recruitment of more than 500 workers. The recruitment stalled after the executive cancelled an advert published by the board and shut down its online recruitment portal.
