Republic v Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries & Co-operatives & another; State Corporations Advisory Committee (SCAC) & another Ex parte; Stephen Ndichu Kinuthia [2021] KEELRC 99 (KLR)

The 1st Respondent deponed that following an advisory from the EACC dated 19th July 2021, the Applicant, whose earlier appointment at the Tourism Finance Corporation had been revoked under Section 2(e) of the State Corporations Act, was ineligible for appointment to any board under Section 6(3). The Court accepted that the revocation was made in the Respondent's official capacity and within the law, in furtherance of Chapter Six of the Constitution and the Leadership and Integrity Act.

The Court read Section 6(3) of the State Corporations Act as rendering the Applicant ineligible for appointment to any other board following the revocation of his prior appointment. Because the ineligibility rests on statute, quashing the Gazette Notice would achieve nothing and certiorari cannot run contra statute. The Applicant's legitimate expectation claim could not overcome this statutory position.

The Court held that the Applicant was misguided in invoking legitimate expectation, since the people of Kenya themselves hold a legitimate expectation that State Corporations comply with the law in their appointments. The revocation, founded on the EACC advisory and Chapter Six integrity requirements, was in keeping with those expectations, so no constitutional violation of fair labour practice, fair administrative action or equality was made out.