Kenya, May 27 -- Lawyer Vincent Lempaa Suyianka has filed a request in court to stop President William Ruto from appointing any more advisors until the court can discuss the matter.
In his urgent request, lawyer Lempaa also wants the court to tell John Mbadi, the Cabinet Secretary of the National Treasury, to stop making payments to the 21 advisors who are already in place.
The petition states, "While we wait for the court to discuss this request, we ask the court to stop CS Mbadi from paying salaries and allowances to the 21 advisors."
Additionally, the petition asks for the advisors to be prevented from receiving any money from the government during this time.
Lawyer Lempaa believes that, according to Article 165(4) of the Constitution, this case should be seen as important and sent to Chief Justice Martha Koome to form a special group of judges to handle it.
In his written statement, he argues that there are no laws about how many advisors a president can appoint.
This, he says, allows President Ruto to fill the civil service with political appointees who may not follow the values of public service.
He also points out that just because there is no limit on how many advisors can be appointed does not mean the president can overfill the public service with them.
Lempaa argues that having too many advisors is a waste of public money and that these advisors are taking billions of shillings in salaries and allowances that should be for the citizens of Kenya.
He believes that many of the tasks given to these advisors could be done by regular government workers in different departments.
So far, President Ruto has appointed 21 advisors, including notable names like Professor Makau Mutua, Moses Kuria, David Ndii, Edward Kisiang'ani, and others.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Bana Kenya.