State, spirits makers fail to strike deal on crackdown

The High Court will today determine if it will issue any orders to protect property owned by spirits manufacturers.

Justice Isaac Lenaola decided to write a ruling after lawyers from the State and spirits manufacturers failed to come up with a solution after hours of unsuccessful consultations.

Lenaola took an unusual decision yesterday morning where he directed the lawyers to get out of the court and discuss on the way forward.

This time, the two parties were to meet and come up with a concession on their own, before the intervention of the judge. Justice Lenaola, however, limited them to ensuring that properties were protected. "We all know the law. If you are interested in pouring alcohol, why will you destroy a building or a car?" he asked.

In the court room, just before Lenaola gave the directive, lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, representing Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu, argued that the manufacturers ought not to win the court's favour because they were operating illegally since their licences expired last year.

"My lord I should be allowed to file a further affidavit because even now I can see licences that expired in 2014 have been annexed in the reply," he said. However, the judge cut him short, saying that the issue he had raised lies on the hands of the AG, thus he ought to be the one moving the court not to issue any orders to the manufacturers.

Lenaola noted the responsibility to enforce the law falls in the hands of the State agencies and not the legislator. And for the third day, the Attorney General had not responded to the case but told the court that he would follow what the other lawyers would argue and give his side of the story.

Lenaola said the manufacturers could add more parties to the suit if they deemed them important to their case.