The High Court has ruled that the establishment of 50 Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS) positions and appointment of office holders was unconstitutional.

According to a three-Judge Bench sitting in Nairobi, the government did not follow the set-out rules to establish the offices.

The ruling was made by the majority Judges including Justices Kanyi Kimondo and Aleem Visram while Lady Justice Hedwig Ong’udi dissented.

“We do not think that it was the intention of the framers of the Constitution to have 50 CASs deputizing 22 CSs. For the avoidance of doubt, the appointment of the 50 CASs is unconstitutional,” the court ruled.

“The newly-created office and fresh complement of 50 had to comply with the constitution and the criteria set out earlier in Okiyah’s case in order to be lawfully established. They did not comply. The entire complement of 50 CASs is therefore unconstitutional.”

The court found that there was no public participation in the creation of 27 of the positions, although the guideline was applied in the creation of 23 positions.

“Whereas there was some reasonable public participation on the first complement of 23 CASs, there was no such participation regarding the additional 27 CASs. The entire complement of the 50 CASs is unconstitutional,” the court ruled.

On March 23, 2023, the 50 CASs were sworn in after the National Assembly declined to vet them. Later, the court issued an order barring them from occupying office.