KATIBA INSTITUTE E-NEWSLETTER
Welcome to our latest newsletter.
As highlighted in our February Newsletter, Katiba institute marks 10 years of its existence this year and we will be sharing our story and key accomplishments within the period in subsequent newsletters and through our other official platforms. We have also scheduled activities to mark this milestone.
In this edition, we share the story of why Katiba Institute was established and our recent activities in and out of court.
Thank you for being part of the Katiba Institute extended family.
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Katiba Institute: The Vision
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As we mark 10 years of Katiba Institute’s existence, we share the story of why and how KI came into being.
“We believed that the Constitution should become the central focus and guiding light of politics, policies and implementation. We had the ambition of preventing the Constitution from being just a piece of paper, to bring its values, principles and procedures alive. So we hoped to create awareness among the people of Kenya of its potential, by helping them understand their rights and how they can be protected, including by the use of litigation, mechanisms like independent commissions, and by taking advantage of rights to present petitions, ask for information and demonstrate. We wanted our work on this to extend to small town and villages…”- Prof. Yash Pal Ghai & Jill Cottrell Ghai on the vision of Katiba Institute.
Read more about Katiba Institute's journey in a special supplement published by the Platform Magazine in September 2020.
Download the publication here
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Top performers in human rights essay competition to be recognized
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Katiba Institute is set to award top participants of the essay competition on human rights in April 2021 after finalizing on the marking process. The competition, which targeted participants up to 25 years, aimed to encourage young people to think and write about what human rights means to them. And what they think they and others can do to defend human rights.
We received a total of 141 essays grouped under Masters, Undergraduate, Diploma, High School and Primary School categories. Participants were drawn from 33 different counties, with majority of the writers coming from Nairobi County. Top performers in each category will be awarded.
KI will publicise the top performers and communicate details about the awarding criteria and the date for the ceremony.
The essay competition is part of the activities under the project on Strengthening the Work of Human Rights Defenders that KI is implementing. The project is supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Kenya.
Read the details of the essay competition here…
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Katiba Institute part of feminism approach training
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| KI participated in a feminism training facilitated by the Swedish Embassy in Kenya through Diakonia -Sweden Country Office. The training took place in Mombasa from 22nd to 26th February 2021 and targeted current partners funded by the Embassy through Diakonia. It aimed to introduce a feminist approach to the projects being implemented by the partners. The event also sought to encourage partners to apply feminist principles in their operations, which aims to achieve equality between women and men globally. The session was important to KI as it speaks to our efforts towards gender equality. |
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In this appeal, the Speaker and the National Assembly are challenging a decision by the High Court that, among other things, held that more than 20 laws passed by the National Assembly were invalid because the National Assembly had failed to properly consult with the Senate before passing them. The High Court had suspended the judgment for 9 months, which meant that the laws were not invalidated immediately, but that the Senate and the National Assembly had 9 months to attempt to cure the deficiencies in the laws. On 2 February 2020, the Court of Appeal denied an application by the Speaker and the National Assembly for a stay of proceedings – they presumably wanted not to have to bother about reviewing those laws until, and unless, the Court of Appeal agrees with the High Court on the final decision.
The Court of Appeal noted that the High Court had already suspended its own judgment, which meant that the Court of Appeal did not need to issue a stay.
The Court of Appeal also ordered that the Speakers of both the Senate and the National Assembly meet to address how best to cure the deficiencies in the law. The Court of Appeal did not impose any deadline by which a meeting must occur, and it does not appear as if the order is binding on the National Assembly and the Senate. |
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Katiba Institute has been named as an interested party in this petition, which challenges the government's decision to convert existing car loans that had been granted to speakers and members of county assemblies into car grants. The conversion occurred after the President, in a speech on 29 January, had promised each of the speakers and members of the county assemblies a two million Kenya shilling car grant.
The petition alleges that in approving the car grant, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission violated the values and principles of the Constitution (Article 10); violated the principles imposed on it under Article 230(4) of the Constitution, in particular, the requirement that decisions be fiscally sustainable, transparent, and fair; and violated the requirements under Article 201 that financial resources be used prudently and that decisions be made openly and after considering public participation.
The petition requests that the Court declare that the conversion of car loans to car grants is unconstitutional, invalidate the Salaries and Remuneration Commission's decision to convert the car loans to car grants, and compel the speakers and members of national assemblies to pay back any money the received from the conversion of their car loans to car grants. |
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Last year, the former Chief Justice David Maraga wrote a letter to the President advising him to dissolve Parliament and call new elections because Parliament had failed to pass legislation to ensure that no more than two-thirds of members of elected bodies by of the same gender (the two-third gender principle). The advisory letter was written according to the Chief Justice’s obligation under Article 261(7), which states that if Parliament fails to enact certain legislation, including legislation relating to the two-thirds gender principle, the Chief Justice must advise the President to dissolve Parliament.
The President has refused to act on the advisory letter and, as a result, a number of parties – including the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness, which Katiba represents – filed a petition before the High Court seeking to compel the President to dissolve Parliament.
The case was referred to the Chief Justice to constitute a 5-judge bench to hear the case but because the Chief Justice was involved in the case, the Deputy Chief Justice constituted the bench. The Respondents objected to the bench, arguing that only the Chief Justice had the authority to constitute a multi-judge bench.
The High Court dismissed the objection, finding that constituting a multi-judge bench was an administrative process that, under certain circumstances, could be carried out by someone other than the Chief Justice. And because the Chief Justice was involved in the case, it was appropriate for the Deputy Chief Justice to constitute the bench in order to avoid any appearance of unfairness or impropriety.
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| These are links to articles that appear on the Star newspaper every Friday (click on a title for the full text) |
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| These are a collection of articles that are of interest to Katiba Institute. |
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| These are links to publications produced by the Katiba Institute. |
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Awarding of the essay competition winners
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Training of Gender desk officers from Social Justice Centers ( from Nairobi, Vihiga, Busia, Taita Taveta, Kilifi, Baringo, Kajiado , Mombasa, Kakamega and Siaya)
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Women leadership clinic in western Kenya
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