Activist Okiya Omtata has accused President Uhuru Kenyatta of abusing his powers when he created the Nairobi Metropolitan Services.
In documents filed in court, Omtatah says the decision to establish the NMS under the Executive Office of the President was done without reference to Parliament and without involvement of the Nairobi City County government.
On May 11, President Kenyatta included NMS under the Executive Office of the President. He used the Executive Order No. 1 to establish the NMS.
The order implies that the implementation of core functions of Nairobi county transferred to the national government will be under the direct supervision of the President.
Omtatah says there is no provision in law for using an executive order to establish a state corporation.
His case comes a few days after Justice James Makau temporarily suspended part of the Executive Order that had placed the Judiciary, constitutional commissions and independent offices under different ministries.
In suspending the order, Justice Makau said it was possible the President had invoked his powers wrongfully and used administrative processes to purport to restructure and reorganise independent constitutional offices.
Omtatah now wants the court to intervene to declare that Uhuru’s inclusion, through the revised Executive Order, of the NMS as a department under the Executive Office of the President is unlawful.
The revised Executive Order lists NMS director general Mohamed Abdalla Badi under the Executive Office of the President.
“The President has abused his power as the continued inclusion of the NMS under EOP is unlawful. There was also no public participation on the creation of the service,” he says.
Edited by Henry Makori
