What You Need to Know:
1) Court Extends Order Blocking Sale of Parastatals: The High Court has extended an order halting the sale of 11 state-owned enterprises following a case filed by the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party. This decision comes after the consolidation of multiple legal challenges related to the constitutionality of the Privatisation Act.
2) ODM’s Argument Against Sale: ODM argues that the rushed sale of key assets, including the KICC and Kenya Pipeline Company, lacks public engagement and relies solely on conditionalities set by international financial bodies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to address alleged foreign debt obligations.
In a significant development, the High Court has prolonged the suspension of the sale of 11 state-owned enterprises, a move initiated following a lawsuit brought forth by the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party led by Raila Odinga.
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Justice Chacha Mwita opted to extend the orders after amalgamating the ODM’s case with two other related legal actions, one filed by Gitahi Ngunyi, an esteemed economic and finance journalist, and the other by the Katiba Institute.
The Orange Democratic Party takes the lead in this legal endeavor.
Among the respondents named in the case are the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Treasury Cabinet Secretary, the Attorney General, the National Assembly itself, the Auditor General, and the Senate.
The crux of the matter in all these legal challenges revolves around the constitutionality of the Privatisation Act.
Justice Mwita has granted the respondents a seven-day window to respond to the petitions, with a directive for written submissions not exceeding 10 pages.
The court has scheduled the hearing for March 7 at 11 am.
ODM, represented by Advocate Jackson Awele, initiated the legal action late last year, securing the order after arguing that the public was excluded from the decision-making process concerning the Privatisation Act.
ODM contends that certain public assets such as the KICC, Kenya Pipeline Company, Kenya Literature Bureau, and Kenya Seed Company should only be privatized with the consent of the populace through a referendum, as they constitute part of Kenya’s sovereign wealth, holding significant cultural and strategic value.
The party questions the urgency behind the government’s push to sell these assets, arguing that the government has failed to provide credible justifications, aside from purported conditionalities set by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to repay foreign debt obligations.
ODM raised a crucial point, emphasizing, “At best, the only supposed justification for the intended sales are the reported conditionalities imposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for the sale of state corporations to repay alleged foreign debt obligations.” This underscores the party’s skepticism regarding the government’s motives behind the rushed sale of state-owned enterprises.