The High Court has suspended former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu’s appointment to the Nairobi Rivers commission.
The High Court issued orders preventing Waititu from assuming office as a member of the Nairobi Rivers Commission pending the hearing and determination of a petition challenging his appointment.
While issuing the orders on Friday, February 10, Justice Hedwig Ongudi directed that Waititu should not be appointed to any other state or public office until the case which was filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and Transparency International Kenya is determined.
Moreover, the issue is set to be heard on February 27.
“The interests of justice demand that this petition be fast-tracked and be determined within the shortest time possible,” said the judge.
LSK and Transparency International Kenya in their petition argue that Waititu lacks moral and ethical grounding for any appointment by the Head of State, either upon the advice of the Attorney General or otherwise.
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“The 1st Respondent lacks the moral aptitude, ethical grounding, beyond reproach integrity and has a greatly questionable character as would depict of a state office worthy to receive any commendations by the Head of State, or appointment to being a state office,” they argue.
Likewise, the petitioners now want the court to stop Waititu from assuming office at the commission and indefinitely to any public office.
“We as the Petitioners, take issue with the appointment of the Ferdinand Clifford Ndungu Waititu Babayao, the 1st Respondent herein, who was removed from office by impeachment by the County Assembly of Kiambu, a decision upheld by the Senate of Kenya on 29th January 2020 and not contested by the 1st Respondent,” reads court papers in part.
According to the petitioners, the Attorney General should have advised the Head of State that such an appointment flies in the face of Constitutionalism and does not meet the ethical baselines for state officers and is incapable of being upheld by any Court if challenged.
Nonetheless, President William Ruto appointed Ferdinand Waititu to be a member of the Nairobi Rivers Commission in December 2022.
