We'll comply with court decision on KDF deployment, Duale says

His remarks came after the High Court said that KDF needed to be deployed to ensure peace.

In Summary
  • In a statement after the High Court upheld the decision to deploy KDF, Duale said he will issue a fresh gazette notice to that effect.
  • The CS further affirmed that the government will always respect the Constitution.
Defence CS Aden Duale.
Defence CS Aden Duale.
Image: HANDOUT

Defence CS Aden Duale now says that his ministry will comply with the High Court's decision on the Deployment of Kenya Defence Forces officers to assist the police in maintaining peace in the country, amid a wave of protests.

In a statement after the High Court upheld the decision to deploy KDF, Duale said he will issue a fresh gazette notice to that effect.

"The Government through the Ministry of Defence will comply with the court decision and issue a new gazette notice in due course," he said.

The CS further affirmed that the government will always respect the Constitution.

He said the KDF ensure peace, public safety and protection of critical infrastructure of all the three arms of Government.

"The Government and KDF in particular will at all times respect the constitution and the law in Discharging its mandate," Duale stated.

His remarks came after the High Court said that KDF needed to be deployed to ensure peace.

Justice Lawrence Mugambi said the continuation of the military in assisting the police is necessary given the need to preserve peace and public safety and protect critical infrastructure.

"Given the eruption and loss of control of police during the demonstrations, necessitating deployment of KDF which endangered life and property, the invocation of article 241(b) was properly invoked in the circumstances," he said.

The judge said that even though the intervention was justified, it was clear that the public had not been fully appraised of the extent of the military involvement.

He agreed with the Law Society of Kenya that deploying KDF in such a blanket manner is a dangerous trend that can bring about the militarization of the country.

"This can potentially muzzle the civilian population from protesting to what it believes are unfair taxation policies imposed by the government and also put a wedge between military and civilian population," he said.

The Law Society of Kenya moved to court seeking to stop the state from deploying military officers through a gazette notice issued by CS Duale.

LSK argued 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 soldiers were to support the Kenya Police Service to restore normalcy across the country after anti-Finance Bill protests turned tragic on Tuesday.

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