The High Court on Tuesday 21 July suspended the directive by the government to ministries and state department s not to hire foreign advocates unless approved by the Attorney General.
Justice John Motivo granted permission to the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Nairobi Branch to institute judicial review proceeding against the AG.
“That for the avoidance of any doubt, the order of stay hereinabove granted is directed to the accounting officers and cabinet secretaries in the National Government stopping them from implementing the actions specified in paragraph 4 of the Chamber Summons dated July 20, 2020, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive application,” the judge ruled.
The earlier directive by the state did not allow Cabinet Secretaries not to contract external counsel without the approval of the Attorney General.
During his virtual address to 85 top government officials about two weeks ago, President Uhuru also directed state agencies and public institutions that have filed court cases against one another to withdraw then within a time frame of seven days.
In an application to the court, LSK argued that their members were not a party to the deliberations and did not participate in the proceeding that led to the termination of their contracts.
Through their lawyer, Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi, LSK Nairobi Branch sated that they are representing the interests of advocates who practice their trade within Nairobi.
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The High Court Judge, Justice Mativo directed the lawyers to serve the AG and he has only 15 days to file a response to the application, and LSK branch was also given the same time to respond.
The case before the court will be mentioned on October 6.
