The Law Society of Kenya has moved to court seeking to stop the state from deploying military officers regarding a gazette notice issued by Defense Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale.
LSK in its court papers argues that no emergency, unrest or instability has been officially declared to exist in Kenya to warrant the deployment of the KDF to provide support to the national police service.
Members of Parliament on Wednesday morning approved the deployment of Kenya Defence Forces officers within the country to restore order after Tuesday's protests.
The House voted to approve a motion by National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah hours after Duale gazetted their KDF deployment.
The soldiers were to support the Kenya Police Service to restore normalcy across the country after anti-Finance Bill protests turned tragic on Tuesday.
"We are aggrieved by the illegal and unconstitutional process which was adopted by the Cabinet Secretary in issuing and publishing the challenged gazette notice," LSK said in its court documents.
The military they state is not best suited and not professionally trained in dealing with internal security matters which involve civilians.
The gazette notice they argued poses a huge threat of violation of fundamental rights and freedoms of many Kenyans who wish to exercise their right to peacefully protest within the confines of the constitution.
In their court paper, they further faulted the state for failing to demonstrate that the national police have been overwhelmed or are incapable of dealing with any peaceful protests or any surges of violence to warrant the deployment of KDF.
Justice Lawrence Mugambi has directed LSK to serve the respondents with its petition immediately for a brief hearing on Thursday. (tomorrow).
