Enow v Kenya Film Classification Board & 2 others (Employment and Labour Relations Constitutional Petition E199 of 2024) [2025] KEELRC 1665 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Employment Court declined to stop a CEO re-appointment, ruling such orders would decide the whole case before full hearing.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Questions the Court framed
#The issues the Court set itself to decide, in its own words.
- 1.Whether the matter constitutes a constitutional petition meeting the Anarita Karimi Njeru threshold
- 2.Whether the interim/interlocutory orders sought in the Amended Notice of Motion should be granted
Key legal issues
#Whether interlocutory relief should issue restraining appointment of a CEO pending determination of the petition
The court declined to grant the interlocutory orders because they would effectively determine the entire petition at an interlocutory stage, directing instead that the petition proceed to full hearing
The court observed that the interim relief sought was of such a nature that granting it would dispose of the substance of the petition before trial. It therefore reserved all determinations to the full petition, confirming existing interim orders only to preserve the position in the meantime.
Legal principles established
#- A court will decline interlocutory orders which, if granted, would conclusively determine the entire petition at an interlocutory stage
Court orders
#- 1.Declined to grant the orders sought in the application at this interlocutory stage
- 2.Directed the parties to continue and complete the petition in its entirety
- 3.Confirmed the interim orders in the meantime
- 4.Costs in the petition
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
Wrote the judgment
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Constitution of Kenya (unspecified article invoked in submissions; petition under Articles 27 and 47 of the Constitution)
Relief refused
#Interim orders restraining the Respondents from conducting/appointing anyone other than the Petitioner as CEO and orders compelling access to information on the interviews and reasons for non-appointment
The court found that granting the orders would determine the entire petition at an interlocutory stage and declined to grant any orders at this stage
Costs
Costs in the petition
Quotable passages
#Verbatim from the judgment, each located to the page it appears on in the official PDF — so these can be cited and checked directly.
I notice that the orders being sought in this application if granted will consequently determine the entire petition at an interlocutory state.
I therefore decline to grant any orders at this stage and direct the parties to continue and complete the petition in its entirety. The interim orders are in the meantime confirmed. Costs in the petition.
The violations must be pleaded with a reasonable degree of precision.The violations must be particularised in a precise mannerThe manner in which the alleged violations were committed and to what extent.
Issues in the judgment
#The judgment records the advertisement deadline as 25th December 2024 while the advertisement itself is dated 11th December 2023 and interviews occurred in May 2024, suggesting a typographical error in the year
The petition is described as a petition but the pleadings and filings are variously referred to as an application, petition and amended application without clarification of the operative pleading
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Enow v Kenya Film Classification Board & 2 others (Employment and Labour Relations Constitutional Petition E199 of 2024) [2025] KEELRC 1665 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). Not stated in judgment. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2025/1665/eng@2025-06-05
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.