Give KNCHR names to House, President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered

By Wilfred Ayaga

Nairobi, Kenya: The High Court has ordered President Uhuru Kenyatta to submit names of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) nominees to Parliament.

The court gave Uhuru 21 days to transmit to the National Assembly a shortlist of names that had been given to him by an interview panel early last year.

In his judgement, Justice Isaac Lenaola said the President erred by failing to submit the names of the shortlisted candidates to Parliament as required by law.

Instead, he had chosen to circumvent constitutional provisions by constituting a new panel to interview candidates.

“The President should within 21 days of this order exercise powers conferred to him by the KNCHR Act and extend time for the exercise and nominate one person from the list submitted by the selection panel for the appointment of the chairperson and four members of the commission before forwarding the names to the National Assembly,” the judgement said.

The verdict was a victory for activists Brian Weke and Japhet Muriira, who had filed the petition. They argued that the President has no discretion under the law to decline to nominate persons to the positions.

“The law only contemplates a situation in which names may be approved or rejected by the National Assembly,” they had told the court through lawyer Anthony Oluoch.

The judge said that the President’s failure to submit the names was not grounded in law and that he had clearly sidestepped his obligations.