The County Governor of Mandera has been sued over unilateral and irregular action to initiate a process of delineation of various urban areas without public participation.
The petitioners Hon.Mohamed Abdi MP Lafey Constituency and Hon Husseinweytan Abdirahman MP Mandera East Constituency represented in Court by Advocated Eric Kinaro, content that the process of delineating the County is irregular for want of due process since the County Executive Committee did not sanction the decision hence being unfounded and ultra vires.
They submit that the decision by the County Governor, County Government and the Cabinet Secretary Ministry of lands, public works, housing and urban development had to be approved by the County Assembly, which approval was not sought by the County Assembly.
Further, they say that the actions by the Governor to make unilateral decisions creates confusion and may result to loopholes for pilferage of public funds as there is no budget vote for the delineation.
The County governor is also faulted by the petitioners for arriving at the decision without any public participation.
“Before such a monumental decision is made by a County governor, there must be public participation to collect and collate the views of the people in preparing a proposal for the proposed boundaries for urban areas” says the petitioners.
The Petitioners are asking the Court to declare that the actions by the Mandera County Governor violated Articles 1,10, 179 and 184 of the Kenyan Constitution.
They also asked the Court to issue orders restraining the Governor and the other respondents from proceeding with the process of delineating boundaries of urban areas within Mandera County until meaningful public participation is conducted.
Further, they want the court to quash a gazette notice dated June 14, 2024 and a declaration order that the constitution and appointment of the ad hoc committee was illegal, unconstitutional and nullity hence declared void ab initio.
The petition was certified urgent and all parties ordered to appear in Court on Monday 22/07/2024 for further orders and directions.
