Court Suspends 4 Ruto Appointees From National Climate Council

A Nairobi Court has suspended President William Ruto’s decision to appoint Emily Mwende Waita, John Kioli, Umar Omar and George Odera Outa as members of the National Climate Change Council (NCCC).

Justice Mugure Thande halted the appointees from assuming office until a petition challenging their appointment is heard and determined.

The Mt Kenya Network Forum and indigenous People National Steering Committee on climate change (IPNSCCC) had moved to court to challenge the appointments of the four members citing lack of required legal threshold on transparency, competitiveness, merits and public participation.

The forum also sued the National Climate Change and Attorney General Justin Muturi over the appointments.

IPNSCCC argues that civil society organisations working on climate change in Kenya were not involved during the appointment of the members of the climate council.

"It is not clear who amongst the nominees is the representative of the largest civil society organisation working on climate change as it is envisaged in the Council Act or what process was used to select the representative for the civil society as required by the law and the Constitution and whether there was any form of public participation in the selection of the said individuals in accordance with the Public Participation Act, " the petitioners claim.