The High court has declared the Privatization Act signed into law by President William Ruto unconstitutional and void for lack of adequate public participation.

Justice Chacha Mwita on Tuesday agreed with the submissions made by the Orange Democratic party that filed the case, saying the Act made it easier to sell state enterprises to private companies without allowing the public to give its views.

“The National Assembly failed to discharge its obligations to conduct public participation that met both quantitative and qualitative thresholds. The six memoranda received, coupled with a few stakeholders, could not effectively represent the views of the people as required by Articles 10 and 18 of the Constitution,” said Mwita.

Mwita said KICC is a national heritage and privatizing it goes against article 11(2) of the constitution and the Monument and Heritage Act.

“KICC is a national monument that needs to be protected and the decision to privatize it is unconstitutional, null and void,” he said.

This ruling follows the ODM Party in December 2023, filing a petition challenging the Act stating that the proposed sale of some of the parastatals, like Kenya Pipeline Limited, the Kenya Seed Company, and the Kenya Literature Bureau, were key to the country’s national security and needed to stay under the control of the government for the same reasons.

ODM argued that President Ruto’s plan to privatize some of the parastatals contravened the constitution and that the said organizations were the state’s assets financed by the public.

On November 2023, the National Treasury announced plans to privatise 11 entities on grounds that some of the parastatals made losses despite immense funding by the government.

Apart from the KICC, the government announced the sale of the National Oil Corporation of Kenya, Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers Limited, Mwea and Western Kenya Rice Mills, Rivatex East Africa, and the Numerical Machining Complex, among others. 

Ruto signed the Privatization Act which was aiming to give the Executive power to dispose of public assets, prompting the opposition to move to court to challenge it.

The Act provided that if a decision to ratify the sale of a public parastatal is not made by the National Assembly in 90 days, then the decision would be deemed ratified. By Sharon Resian, Capital News

The ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) is torn by internal strife and its leaders are embroiled in multifaceted battles that could kill the party.

At the top, the party leader, President William Ruto is at war with his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua. 

Its former Secretary General Cleophas Malala is in court seeking to overturn the decision to kick him out of the position in August. 

The wheelbarrow party is also at a crossroads whether or not to go back to the abandoned grassroots elections after initiating merger talks with Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani National Congress (ANC).

Four days ago, party officials led by Secretary General Hassan Omar and chairperson Cecily Mbarire met university students to launch a comrade chapter which Omar said will be ‘a legitimate and popular organ of the UDA PARTY’ going forward.

“This initiative is a first in Kenya’s political landscape where students can engage directly with the ruling party, aiming to have the voices of the young people heard and valued. Out of the young people who will air their voices on the taskforce on education financing model, 14 will come from the launched chapter,” Mbarire said. 

Last month, while announcing Omar’s appointment as Malala’s replacement, the party announced that it would embark on the abandoned grassroots elections.

“We have directed the National Elections Board to make necessary adjustments and continue with the elections in the rest of the counties as earlier communicated. These elections will ultimately offer the members of the party an opportunity to choose their leaders from the polling center all the way to the national level,” the NEC statement said. 

Ironically, in June, UDA and ANC agreed to merge and a joint committee formed to look for a name, symbol and colour of a new party that will be used as a special purpose vehicle for President William Ruto’s re-election campaign.

After the June meeting, ANC leaders later met on August 3 where they officially approved a merger with UDA in a meeting hosted by caretaker party leader, Lamu Governor Issa Timamy.

Timammy was granted authority to lead, coordinate and oversee the implementation and completion of the merger. 

"Time is of the essence," Timamy said, underscoring the urgency and importance of the merger.

This is despite the millions of shillings that candidates contributed to the party  to be allowed to contest for various positions from polling station, ward level, Constituency and County elections that attracted over 190,000 candidates.

County officials were required to pay Sh10,000 to be eligible to vie, while a constituency delegate was required to contribute Sh2,000. Officials for the Constituency position paid Sh5,000 to the party.

At the Ward level, candidates were required to pay Sh1,000, while at the polling station level they were required to pay Sh200. To be registered as a delegate, one was required to pay Sh2,000.

While the merger process is  going  on, UDA is facing a new challenge triggered by the new partnership between President Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga that opened doors for the opposition party's men join the government as Cabinet Secretaries.

There is speculation of a possible 2027 election pact between ODM and UDA, which could upset the planned merger between the latter and ANC.

As the confusion in UDA rages, there is emergence of factions with MPs who are sympathetic to Gachagua  threatening to withhold their monthly contributions.

The threat of an impeachment motion against Gachagua has exacerbated the division, with the MPs reading from different scripts.

Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru says the future of the party hangs in the balance.

“Which ruling party holds a meeting before 5am just to evade being served court orders? They have postponed the grassroots elections despite candidates investing millions but they don’t care. Members are losing taste of the party day by day,” the MP said.

He said unless the National Executive Council (NEC) which is headed by the President sits and provides direction, the party has no future.

“Why can’t they run the party professionally like the way ODM is run? With the current situation, which delegate can turn out to participate in the so-called grassroots elections which is a total mess?” posed Gathiru.

However, party Treasurer, Kitutu Chache North MP Japheth Nyakundi, maintained that UDA is vibrant and ready to go back to the grassroots elections.

Asked about the essence of the grassroots elections at a time when the proposed merger between UDA and ANC will introduce a new political trajectory, Nyakundi maintained that ‘there was a merger but UDA would remain’ further complicating the situation.

“We shall come up with a strategy to incorporate our brothers from ANC as we move forward. We are in the final stages of the merger,” Nkakundi said. By Ndung’u Gachane , The Standard

Tanzania police on Monday arrested opposition members, including prominent leader Tundu Lissu, and journalists in Dar es Salaam before planned peaceful protests calling on the government to address the abduction of opposition figures in recent months.

The opposition had called for citizens to join in the rally, which the Tanzanian government had banned, citing security concerns. Police were deployed nationwide to prevent unrest. Despite this, Tanzania’s main opposition, the Chadema Party, resolved to continue the protests.

Moments before the crackdown on the opposition, police had blocked access to the homes of two opposition leaders in Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. The police further intensified their presence across Dar es Salaam to thwart the planned protests

A report by police said they had arrested 14 people, including the Chadema Party chairman Freeman Mbowe and Lissu, for defying a prohibition on the protests. However, the Chadema party has released a list of about 27 people who, according to them, have been arrested and detained by the police following Monday’s planned protests. The party also confirmed the arrest of its top officials and called on the police to respect the constitution and refrain from using excessive force to suppress the demonstrations.

According to Citizen Tanzania, Chadema’s chairman, Freeman Mbowe, was arrested on the street while addressing journalists, while his deputy, Tundu Lissu was taken from his home in Tegeta. This comes at a time when the nation is in the spotlight for political suppression and human rights abuses of those critical of President Samia Suluhu’s government.

Later on Monday, Chadema announced the release of Tundu Lissu on bail. Freeman Mbowe and Benson Kigaila were also granted bail. The party officials are currently working to ensure all the arrested members and citizens get bail.

The arrests occurred less than 3 weeks after the killing of Ally Mohammed Kibao, a member of Chadema’s secretariat. By Jabes Ojwang, Jurist