Court Lands First Blow On Ruto In CASs Case

The Employment and Labour Relations Court on Friday, November, 25 ruled against the Public Service Commission and the Attorney General's preliminary objection against a suit challenging the creation of the office of the Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) by President William Ruto.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Attorney General had sought to have the case dismissed which would have allowed President Ruto to recruit 21 CASs to serve in his government.

The respondents had filed that according to article 165(3), of the constitution, it is the High Court that had the powers to determine the legality of the actions of President Ruto in establishing the office of the CAS.

"The establishment of the office of Chief Administrative Secretary pursuant to Article 132(4) of the constitution as read with section 30 of the Public Service Commission Act, 207 as impugned in the instant petition does not fall within the ambit of this court's jurisdiction as outlined in section 12 of the ELRC Act as read with Article 162(2) of the constitution," ruled Lady Justice Monica Mbaru in part.

Justice Mbaru affirmed that it was within the powers of the Labour Court to determine a matter of the sort as it is before it.

"The process of the establishment of the office of CASs is challenged and the petitioner is before the right forum to urge its case. Accordingly, objections by the 2nd respondent and with the concurrence of the 1st respondent are hereby found without merit and are hereby dismissed." added the ruling.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court on Wednesday, October 12 had frozen the Public Service Commission (PSC)'s recruitment drive seeking qualified candidates to fill the positions.

This followed a petition filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) which argued that the process was a waste of taxpayers' money and would lead to duplicate roles between the CASs and Principal Secretaries - who are 47 in total. The matter was set for a hearing on Monday, October 24, as directed by the judge.

On the same day, the PSC invited those qualified for the post to apply, reducing fears that it would be scrapped by President Ruto's administration.

Beforehand, the public was notified on Wednesday, September 21 that the government decided to kick start the review process as its intention of creating the post after Uhuru's introduction of the posts was thrown out by the High Court in April 2021.