Marwa v National Police Service Commission & 3 others (Constitutional Petition E195 of 2022) [2024] KEELRC 2292 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Employment Court ruled that time limits in ordinary employment laws do not block constitutional rights claims, allowing a 19-year-old police dismissal case to proceed.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the petition was an ordinary employment claim disguised as a constitutional petition
The court found the petition properly initiated as a constitutional petition raising constitutional issues.
The court considered the constitutional provisions invoked, the nature of the alleged violations and the remedies sought, and noted that the petition remained unchallenged as the Respondents had not filed responses. The grievance that the outcome of the administrative appeal was communicated 18 years later raised constitutional questions adequately litigable only under the Constitution. The doctrine of constitutional avoidance did not defeat the petition.
Whether statutory limitation applies to the constitutional petition
Limitation statutes do not bar petitions founded on violation of the Constitution or of rights, though inordinate delay may justify striking out; on the facts, striking out was not warranted.
Relying on prevailing precedent including Chief Land Registrar v Nathan Tirop Koech, the court held that unless expressly stated in the Constitution, limitation periods in the Limitation of Actions Act do not apply to enforcement of Bill of Rights claims. However, courts retain discretion to strike out petitions initiated after inexplicable and inordinate delay where justice so demands. Here the circumstances did not call for striking out.
Legal principles established
#- Statutory limitation periods do not apply to causes of action arising out of violation of the Constitution or constitutional rights.
- A court may nonetheless strike out a constitutional petition filed after inordinate and inexplicable delay.
Court orders
#- 1.The preliminary objection dated 13th March 2023 is dismissed.
- 2.The petition shall be heard on its merits.
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Articles 41, 47, 50, 236 and 159 of the Constitution of Kenya (petition for enforcement of constitutional rights)
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Later judgments citing this (1)
#Judgments in the corpus that rely on this one. Where the Court said how it treated the authority, that is shown.
Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Marwa v National Police Service Commission & 3 others (Constitutional Petition E195 of 2022) [2024] KEELRC 2292 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2024). Petition dated 14th October 2022. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2024/2292/eng@2024-09-26
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.